Journal «Angiology and Vascular Surgery» • 

2015 • VOLUME 21 • №1

Five-year results of surgical management of patients with chronic post-embolic pulmonary hypertension

Edemsky A.G., Chernyavsky A.M., Chernyavsky M.A., Tarkova A.R., Efimenko V.G.

Centre for Surgery of the Aorta, Coronary and Peripheral Arteries, Novosibirsk Scientific Research Institute for Circulatory Pathology named after Academician E.N. Meshalkin under the Ministry of Public Health of the Russian Federation, Novosibirsk, Russia

Over the period from 2004 to 2013, a total of 146 patients presenting with chronic post-embolic pulmonary hypertension (CPEPH) underwent the operation of pulmonary thromboendarterectomy (TEE) at the Centre for Surgery of the Aorta, Coronary and Peripheral Arteries. The operation was carried out according to the conventional technique with the use of hypothermia and circulatory arrest. The dynamics of the clinical and functional state was assessed by analysing the following parameters: 6-minute walk test, mean pulmonary artery pressure, and resistance of lesser circulation vessels (according to the data of catheterization of the right parts of the heart), as well as the diameter of the pulmonary artery trunk (by data of MSCT angiography of the pulmonary artery). The distance of the 6-minute walk was indicative of the corresponding functional class of chronic heart failure according to the NYHA classification. The obtained results showed that pulmonary TEE eliminates the main cause of pulmonary hypertension – thrombotic obstruction of pulmonary arteries, thus leading to normalization of the lesser circulation, a decrease in the load on the right ventricle and, consequently, to considerable improvement of the functional state of patients. Performing the operation of TEE from PA branches leads to improved clinical and functional condition of patients with CPEPH both at the hospital stage and further in the remote period after surgery, which is confirmed by a more than 2.5-fold increase of the 6-minute walk distance and a decrease of CHF functional class (by NYHA). A decrease of vascular resistance of the lesser circulation from 539.66±120.59 din×s×cm-5 before surgery to 101.39±89.20 din×s×cm-5 in the remote period is indicative of remodelling of the right ventricle and distal arterioles of the lesser circulation. A decrease of the PA trunk diameter from 35.10±5.25 mm before the operation to 30.30±8.65 mm in the remote period is suggestive of structural rearrangement of the pulmonary arterial bed with a tendency towards normalization and of efficacy of surgical treatment performed.

KEY WORDS:pulmonary thromboendarterectomy, chronic post-embolic pulmonary hypertension, 6-minute walk test, right heart catheterization, MSCT angiography of pulmonary arteries.

P. 169

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