摘要

Introduction: Advanced pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in patients with congenital cardiac communications and right -to -left shunting (Eisenmenger syndrome - PAH-ES) is associated with hypoxemia and decreased circulating levels o{thrombomodulin (TM), probably reflecting decreased endothelial TM production. The combination of these two factors has been shown to induce fibrin deposition, with increased risk of thrombosis, a well known complication in this syndrome. Patients and methods: We tested the hypothesis that vasodilator therapy with the phosphocliesterase-5 inhibitor taclalafil, an approved drug for management of PAH could improve endothelial dysfunction markers, in particular plasma TM, in addition to improving the physical capacity (expected effect of pulmonary vasodilatation) in PAHES patients. This was a prospective observational study of treatment naive patients subjected to specific PAH therapy. Fifteen patients aged 12 to 51 years (median 30 years) were treated for 6 months with a single daily dose of 40 mg oral tadalafil. The physical capacity (distance walked during the 6 -min walk test - 6MWD), systemic oxygen saturation and laboratory parameters were measured at baseline, and 90 days and 180 days of treatment. Results: Plasma TM, which was decreased at baseline compared to controls (p < 0.001) increased at 90 and 180 days (p = 0.003), and this was directly related (r = 0.57, p = 0.026) to improvement of oxygen saturation (p = 0.008). Heightened baseline tissue -type plasminogen activator decreased during treatment (p = 0.010), while heightened von Willebrancl factor antigen remained unchanged. The 6MWD improved significantly (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Tadalafil therapy improved circulating TM and tissue -type plasminogen activator, in addition to improving the physical capacity and oxygen saturation in PAM ES patients.

  • 出版日期2016-10