News

High levels of cardiac troponin in the blood of pulmonary hypertension (PH) patients are associated with a poorer prognosis, according to a study. The meta-analysis study, “Serum Cardiac Troponin Elevation Predicts Mortality in Patients with Pulmonary Hypertension: A Meta‐Analysis of 8 Cohort Studies,” was published in The…

Male patients with group 3 pulmonary hypertension (PH) have worse right ventricular (RV) function compared with female patients, according to a  study. Impaired RV function also was found to be associated with reduced overall survival and higher hospitalization rates linked to heart failure. The group study “Clinical Determinants and…

The prevalence of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in South Korea is comparable with that reported in other countries, according to a reassessment study of medical insurance data. The study, “Demographics, treatment trends, and survival rate in incident pulmonary artery hypertension in Korea: A nationwide study based on the…

Waiting for a lung transplant in the intensive care unit at a New York hospital in November 2017, a 21-year-old pulmonary hypertension patient named Miriam Holman sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Her lawsuit accused the department of allocating organs based on a patient’s geographic location,…

Actelion Pharmaceuticals has received a complete response letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) specifying that the company needs to conduct further studies and obtain more data in order to accurately assess the use of Opsumit (macitentan) in the treatment of patients with inoperable chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). The…

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) associated with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) resolves over time in nearly two-thirds of premature babies, a study shows. However, the findings also revealed that being male, steroid use, and greater PH severity were associated with increased mortality in these patients. The study, “Death…

Doctors in the Netherlands are using the VMS Heart Analysis System, developed by Ventripoint Diagnostics, for early diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension (PH) in sarcoidosis patients. Approximately 500 patients with sarcoidosis have been tested, using the VMS Heart Analysis System for detecting PH at an early stage. Marco Post,…

Treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) with Tracleer (bosentan) may be more cost-effective than epoprostenol medications or palliative care, but less than Revatio (sildenafil) and other endothelin receptor blockers, a review study suggests. The study, “Cost Effectiveness of Bosentan for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: A…

Tracleer (bosentan) treatment improves mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) in β-thalassemia patients with potential pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), according to a case report of three patients. The report, “The improvement of pulmonary artery pressure after bosentan therapy in patients with β-thalassemia and Doppler-defined pulmonary arterial hypertension,”…

Long-term treatment with Adempas (riociguat) can reduce right heart size and improve the heart’s pumping function in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH), results from a retrospective study suggest. The study, “Right ventricular size and function under riociguat…

Treatment with INOpulse for eight weeks is safe and provides clinically meaningful improvements in physical activity in patients with pulmonary hypertension associated with interstitial lung disease (PH-ILD), according to top-line results of an ongoing Phase 2b trial. The results are from the first group of Bellerophon Therapeutics’…

With the goal of enhancing the lives of pulmonary hypertension (PH) patients, including through better medical care, the nonprofit Team PHenomenal Hope (Team PH) is accepting applications for early-career research grants of up to $50,000. The organization’s newly created grant program — PHenomenal Impact Fund for Global PH…