The prognostic relevance of oxygen uptake in inoperable chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension

BACKGROUND: Patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) present with a decreased oxygen uptake, however, the prognostic relevance of oxygen uptake (VO2 ) in inoperable CTEPH is unknown. METHODS: Patients with inoperable CTEPH were retrospectively analyzed. All patients were assessed by means of right heart catheterisation and cardio pulmonary exercise testing in semisupine position with a 30 Watt increment step-protocol. RESULTS: One-hundred and fifty-one patients (82 female (54.3%), mean age 61 +/- 12.4 years) presented with a mean pulmonary arterial pressure of 40.2 +/- 14.2 mmHg and pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) of 641.9 +/- 374.8 dyne *s/cm(5) . The peak VO2 (mean 13.1 +/- 4.5 mL *kg(-1) *min(-1) ) was measured at initial referral. Over a follow-up of up to 10 years (mean 4.41 +/- 2.57 years), 31 patients had died. Patients with a baseline peak VO2 >/= 10.7 mL *kg(-1) *min(-1) [area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC) = 0.728, P = 0.001] had better survival than those with a peak VO2

Richter, M. J.

Pader, P.

Gall, H.

Reichenberger, F.

Seeger, W.

Mayer, E.

Guth, S.

Kramm, T.

Grimminger, F.

Ghofrani, H. A.

Voswinckel, R.