Early treatment with ambrisentan of mildly elevated mean pulmonary arterial pressure associated with systemic sclerosis: a randomized, controlled, double-blind, parallel group study (EDITA study)

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel group, trial was to assess the effect of ambrisentan on mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and mildly elevated pulmonary hypertension (PH). METHODS: Thirty-eight SSc patients with mildly elevated mPAP at rest between 21 and 24 mmHg and/or > 30 mmHg during low-dose exercise were randomly assigned to treatment with either ambrisentan 5-10 mg/day or placebo. Right heart catheterization and further clinical parameters were assessed at baseline and after 6 months. The primary endpoint was the difference of mPAP change at rest between groups. RESULTS: After 6 months, the two groups did not differ in the primary endpoint (ambrisentan mPAP - 1 ± 6.4 mmHg vs. placebo - 0.73 ± 3.59 mmHg at rest, p = 0.884). However, three patients from the placebo group but none of the ambrisentan group progressed to SSc-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension. Furthermore, ambrisentan treatment showed significant improvements in the secondary endpoints cardiac index (CI) and pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) at rest (CI 0.36 ± 0.66 l/min/m2 vs. - 0.31 ± 0.71 l/min/m2, p = 0.010; PVR - 0.70 ± 0.78 WU vs. 0.01 ± 0.71 WU, p = 0.012) and during exercise (CI 0.7 ± 0.81 l/min/m2 vs. - 0.45 ± 1.36 l/min/m2, p = 0.015; PVR - 0.84 ± 0.48 WU vs. - 0.0032 ± 0.34 WU, p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: This is the first randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study testing the effect of ambrisentan in patients with mildly elevated mPAP and/or exercise PH. The primary endpoint change in mPAP did only tendentially improve in the ambrisentan group, but the significant improvement of other hemodynamic parameters points to a possible benefit of ambrisentan and will be helpful to design future trials. TRIAL REGISTRATION: www.ClinicalTrials.gov, unique identifier NCT: NCT02290613 , registered 14th of November 2014

Systemic sclerosis associated interstitial lung disease

The involvement of the lungs in systemic sclerosis (SSc) is one of the most frequent organ manifestations and is afrequent cause of death among these patients. The course of SSc can be either stable or show slow or rapid progressive deterioration. In particular, interstitial lung disease (ILD) is associated with a poor prognosis and a high mortality and disability. The SSc-ILD often develops during the early phases of the disease. The timely diagnosis of the disease is of vital importance for survival of these patients. The most important indications for the diagnosis of SSc-ILD are the clinical presentation of the patient usually with coughing and progressive dyspnea, deterioration of lung function, the autoantibody constellation in addition to radiological imaging with thorax computed tomography (CT). Despite advances in treatment of SSc in general, there are still only limited specific possibilities for treatment of SSc-ILD, mostly relying on immunosuppression and other pharmacological options as well as lung and stem cell transplantation in selected cases. In severe cases the treatment strategy should be individualized in centers of expertise based on the disease course and the individual needs of the patient

The role of rehabilitation in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension

Purpose of reviewThe current review summarizes the latest evidence of the effects of exercise training for pulmonary hypertension patients demonstrated by six randomized controlled trails and 20 further studies. As the availability of exercise training is still limited it is important to raise awareness of the body of evidence showing the benefit for the patients and the limitations.Recent findingsThe effects of exercise training on exercise capacity, hemodynamics as well as quality of life are described as well as different settings and components of exercise training. Associated adverse events are critically reviewed and strategies for avoidance of these events discussed. Lastly, the most important issues of availability and reimbursement of a specialized exercise training program are examined and the future path is outlined to improve patient access.SummaryThe latest publications on this topic strengthen the call for international multicenter randomized controlled trials to establish the feasibility of exercise training in different healthcare systems and to enhance patient access to these programs

Risk stratification and prognostic factors in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension and comorbidities a cross-sectional cohort study with survival follow-up

Background: The objective of this study was to analyze prognostic factors and risk stratification in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and comorbidities. Methods: Patients with invasively diagnosed PAH were included in the analysis. Comorbidities were clinically diagnosed as proposed in the 6th World Symposium of pulmonary hypertension. Uni- and multivariate analysis were employed for identification of factors predicting survival and time to first clinical worsening (TTCW). Risk stratification was based on parameters from ESC/ERS-guidelines 2015. Results: In total 142 patients were enrolled in the study, 90 of them were diagnosed as PAH without and 52 with comorbidities. All patients received targeted PAH therapy and were followed for 3.3 ± 2.4 years. In PAH patients without comorbidities survival and TTCW were significantly associated with reduced 6-min walking distance (6MWD), elevated N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), WHO-functional class (WHO-FC) and right atrial (RA) area. In the multivariate analysis, 6MWD was an independent predictor for survival (p = 0.002) and WHO-FC for TTCW (p = 0.001). In patients with PAH and comorbidities these parameters had no significant association with survival and TTCW. Average risk score was significantly associated with survival (p = 0.001) and TTCW (p = 0.013) in PAH but not in PAH with comorbidities (both p > 0.05; figure 1). Conclusion: Risk stratification based on ESC/ERS-guidelines could only be confirmed in patients without comorbidities, but not in patients with PAH and comorbidities. The data of this study suggest, that a different risk stratification needs to be applied to PAH patients with comorbidities. Further studies are needed to confirm these results. Trial registration: Not applicable, retrospective registry