Successful Evaluation for Reversibility of Pulmonary Hypertension Using Inhaled Nitric Oxide Determining Candidate for Heart Transplantation

A 43-year old man, who admitted heart failure (HF) with severe left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension (PH) due to Becker muscular dystrophy. Echocardiography revealed that LV ejection fraction was 21%, pulmonary systolic artery pressure (PASP) was 81  mmHg. Decompensated HF with PH was persistent in spite of optimal HF treatment including vasodilator, inotropes, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, beta-blockers and cardiac resynchronization therapy. We assessed the reversibility for pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) using inhaled 20  ppm nitric oxide (NO), determining candidate for heart transplantation in the future.

Source: Journal of Cardiac Failure - August 24, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Kazunori Omote, Mamoru Sakakibara, Hideo Nanbu, Satoshi Maekawa, Naoya Asakawa, Keiji Noguchi, Yusuke Tokuda, Kiwamu Kamiya, Shintaro Kinugawa, Hiroyuki Tsutsui Source Type: research