Nitroglycerin-responsive pulmonary hypertension in idiopathic pulmonary hemosiderosis

Idiopathic pulmonary hemosiderosis (IPH) is an uncommon disease found predominantly in pediatric patients. It can produce severe chronic pulmonary injury that results in chronic hypoxemia, pulmonary insufficiency, and progressive pulmonary fibrosis, leading to irreversible pulmonary hypertension and death. We studied the pulmonary hemodynamics in an 9-yr-old boy with IPH to determine if pulmonary hypertension contributed to exacerbations of this disease. Our results showed that this patient demonstrated pulmonary hypertension during acute exacerbations. Initially, the elevated pulmonary artery pressure responded both to oxygen and to a pulmonary vasodilator in the form of nitroglycerin. However, this improvement was not sustained. We conclude that pulmonary hypertension is probably a result of chronic hypoxemia experienced by patients with pulmonary hemosiderosis. Further investigation is warranted to assess whether or not intervention aimed at reducing pulmonary artery pressure in IPH improves outcome.