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Published on: May 11, 2015
Epoprostenol in pulmonary arterial hypertension
Wouter Jacobs1, Anton Vonk-Noordegraaf
1VU University Medical Center, Department of Pulmonology, De Boelelaan 1117, PO Box 7057, 1007 MB Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Background:
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a devastating disease leading to right heart failure and death in a relatively young patient population. In recent years novel PAH specific therapies have become available.
Objective:
To determine the place of epoprostenol in current PAH treatment strategies.
Methods:
An extensive Medline search was performed to evaluate the use of epoprostenol in PAH. Data from both human and animal studies were reviewed.
Results/Conclusion:
Epoprostenol is an effective and potent treatment in pulmonary arterial hypertension and has greatly improved survival, exercise capacity, PAH symptoms, pulmonary haemodynamics and disease progression. A main disadvantage is that it can only be delivered through a continuous intravenous pump infusion.
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