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CTEPH and Pulmonary Thromboendarterectomy (PTE) Surgery
Hey all! I’m at the Pulmonary Hypertension Association’s International Conference this weekend, learning a lot, and taking photos constantly (as I type this my wrist is sore from lifting cameras). CTEPH (chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension) is one of the diagnoses that I’ve been learning about (and that I knew nothing about before today). CTEPH can develop as a result of a pulmonary embolism, a clot formed deep in a vein that travels to the lungs, clogging the arteries there.
Unlike other forms of PH, for which there is no cure, CTEPH can potentially be cured through a pulmonary thromboendarterectomy, or PTE. PTE is a surgical procedure to remove clots from the arteries in the lungs.
Robin Frankel (@rocko-robin) shared that her doctor referred her to San Diego for a PTE after her recent CTEPH diagnosis. The University of California, San Diego was the first to develop the PTE procedure, but it’s now performed in select hospitals throughout the world.
Those of you with CTEPH: what do you know about PTE? Have you undergone evaluation? If you’ve had the surgery, how did it affect your symptoms? The surgery often helps patients, but doesn’t necessarily treat all symptoms, as demonstrated by a recent study on PTE and underlying sleep disorders in CTEPH patients. Doctors can prescribe CTEPH patients the same oral therapies that pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) patients receive.
I’d love to hear your experiences with CTEPH treatments. I’m glad I understand this diagnosis a little bit better now and hopefully I can answer more of your questions about it in the future.
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