Oral therapy for pulmonary hypertension

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Bosentan offers new hope for pulmonary hypertension not suitable for surgery.
Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension (CTEPH) is a known complication for a small number of patients who had a pulmonary embolism with progressing right heart failure. A pulmonary embolism occurs when a blood clot lodges in the lungs and, with CTEPH, this becomes fibrosed and obstructs the circulation in the lungs. The result is pulmonary hypertension and, despite treatment with anticoagulants, most patients die within a few years. Surgery to remove the fibrosing material is not always a success.

A team at Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, UK, now describes a new approach to CTEPH, which involves the use of bosentan. This new drug is already approved in other forms of pulmonary hypertension. In this study, 47 patients were treated for a minimum of 12 months with bosentan and showed significant improvement in symptoms like breathlessness. This was a small study, but now a bigger trial is being set up. Hopefully, bosentan can provide new hope for those with CTEPH.

Source
European Respiratory Journal July 2006