Congenital Heart DiseaseEffects of Inhaled Iloprost on Exercise Capacity, Quality of Life, and Cardiac Function in Patients With Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Secondary to Congenital Heart Disease (the Eisenmenger Syndrome) (from the EIGER Study)
Section snippets
Methods
The Effects of Iloprost Treatment in Adult Patients with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Related to Congenital Heart Disease (EIGER) study is a prospective, multicenter, single-arm trial. Patients with exertional dyspnea based on the World Health Organization functional class (WHO FC) III or IV along with Eisenmenger physiology (nonrestrictive intracardiac or extracardiac communication with a right-to-left shunt at rest) were recruited from December 2010 to June 2012.
Patients with age >20 years
Results
Eighteen patients with Eisenmenger physiology were recruited during the study period (Table 1). Mean age was 45 ± 11 years (range, 30 to 69 years), and men constituted 67% of the study population. Most patients (89%) had isolated cardiac lesions—with the most common being ventricular septal defect (n = 8), patent ductus arteriosus (n = 4), and atrial septal defect (n = 4)—whereas 2 patients had complex CHD. All patients experienced dyspnea, had impaired exercise tolerance, and were in WHO FC
Discussion
To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the effects of inhaled iloprost treatment on the QoL in patients with ES. Although the inhaled iloprost therapy is beneficial and well tolerated in the management of patients with ES previously,10 frequent nebulizations may deteriorate the compliance and QoL. Our study demonstrated that 24 weeks of inhaled iloprost in patients with ES resulted in significant improvements in clinical symptoms, exercise capacity, QoL, and RV function.
The
Disclosures
The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
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This study was supported by Bayer Pharmaceuticals, Leverkusen, Germany.
See page 1838 for disclosure information.