Important research findings, therapy advances, and other events related to pulmonary hypertension were reported daily in Pulmonary Hypertension News during 2017. Now that the year is over, it’s time to briefly review the articles that appealed most to our readers. Here are the Top 10 most-read articles of 2017, with a brief description of…

Patients with blood clots in the lungs known as chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) can benefit from balloon pulmonary angioplasty (BPA), a new study shows. The procedure is an alternative to the standard treatment for CTEPH — pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA) — in patients who are not eligible…

Actelion’s Opsumit (macitentan) made it easier for blood to pass through the lung blood vessels of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) patients, a Phase 2 clinical trial suggests. In addition to lowering patients’ lung blood pressure, Opsumit also improved their ability to exercise, and was safe, researchers said. The trail…

Information from a pulmonary hypertension registry at Germany’s University Hospital Giessen indicates that patient survival rates vary with the cause of their disease. Researchers published the results in The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation. The study was titled “The Giessen Pulmonary Hypertension Registry: Survival in pulmonary hypertension subgroups.” A…

The lung functioning of pulmonary hypertension patients treated with Bayer’s Adempas improved by 50 percent over a median of six years and stabilized in another 45 percent, according to a Phase 2 clinical trial. Those findings and others indicate that Adempas is a good long-term therapy for pulmonary…

Johnson & Johnson has completed its acquisition of Actelion, a company that develops pulmonary hypertension therapies, six months after the deal was announced in January. Actelion is now part of J&J’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals subsidiary, according to a news release. Janssen pledged to maintain the leadership position that Actelion built in…

A new Pulmonary Hypertension Association awareness campaign is featuring singer Traci Braxton, who has two sisters with related diseases. The public service ads, an extension of a previous awareness effort, are in print, online, and on radio and television. One target will be commuters going in and out of Amtrak’s Northeast…

The Pulmonary Hypertension Association has accredited three more regional clinics that have demonstrated an ability to deliver high-quality care to pulmonary hypertension (PH) patients. The three are the French Hospital Medical Center’s Central Coast Pulmonary Hypertension Center in San Luis Obispo, California; Sentara Norfolk General Hospital’s Pulmonary…

A form of pulmonary hypertension known as chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension may be under-diagnosed and under-treated, a review of research articles suggests. The study, “An epidemiological analysis of the burden of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension in the USA, Europe and Japan,” was published in the European…

Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) may be mitigated by pulmonary thromboendarterectomy, which prevents the need for lung transplant, a new case report shows. The study, “Pulmonary Thromboendarterectomy for Pulmonary Hypertension Before Considering Transplant,” appeared in The Ochsner Journal. CTEPH is observed in approximately 4% of cases…

The discovery of a molecular factor that triggers blood clots in lung arteries may explain why chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) often occurs in patients without traditional clotting risk factors, according to a study. Researchers think the factor, called activated TAFI, could be used to identify those with CTEPH. And…

The Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA) will present two abstracts with data from the PHA registry, which collects information on pulmonary hypertension (PH) patients diagnosed and evaluated at PHA-accredited centers with the goal of improving their care. The presentations will be given at the American Thoracic Society meeting set for May.