Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2005 Jun 14;111(23):3105-11.
doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.104.488486. Epub 2005 Jun 6.

Long-term response to calcium channel blockers in idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension

Olivier Sitbon  1 , Marc Humbert, Xavier Jaïs, Vincent Ioos, Abdul M Hamid, Steeve Provencher, Gilles Garcia, Florence Parent, Philippe Hervé, Gérald Simonneau
Affiliations

Long-term response to calcium channel blockers in idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension

Olivier Sitbon et al. Circulation. .

Abstract

Background: Characteristics of patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH) who benefit from long-term calcium channel blockers (CCB) are unknown.

Methods and results: Acute pulmonary vasodilator testing with epoprostenol or nitric oxide was performed in 557 IPAH patients. Acute responders, defined by a fall in both mean pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) and pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) >20%, received long-term oral CCB. Patients who benefit from long-term CCB were defined as those being in New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class I or II after at least 1 year on CCB monotherapy. Among the 70 patients who displayed acute pulmonary vasoreactivity (12.6%; 95% CI, 9.8% to 15.3%) and received CCB therapy, only 38 showed long-term improvement (6.8%; 95% CI, 4.7% to 8.9%). Long-term CCB responders had less severe disease at baseline than patients who failed. During acute vasodilator testing, long-term CCB responders displayed a more pronounced fall in mean PAP (-39+/-11% versus -26+/-7%; P<0.0001), reaching an absolute value of mean PAP lower than that measured in patients who failed (33+/-8 versus 46+/-10 mm Hg; P<0.0001). After 7.0+/-4.1 years, all but 1 long-term CCB responders were alive in NYHA class I or II, with a sustained hemodynamic improvement. In the group of patients who failed on CCB, the 5-year survival rate was 48%.

Conclusions: Long-term CCB responders represent <10% of IPAH patients evaluated in a pulmonary vascular referral center. During acute vasodilator testing, these patients showed significantly lower levels of both mean PAP and PVR, which reached near-normal values.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles