Prostanoid therapy for pulmonary hypertension

摘要

It was 18 years ago that the present author and Lewis J. Rubin first used intravenous prostanoid therapy for primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH)1-2. With the realization that medical therapy was effective in this usually fatal disease, a range of novel medical therapies has now been tested.The main focus of this meeting was to look at ways in which we can simplify the treatment of patients with PPH.It is important, first, to review the reasons why the prostanoids, namely, prostacyclin and iloprost, are considered to be so important in this disease. The aims of management are principally to improve survival, as this illness, if untreated, is life-threatening. The 5-year survival of patients with untreated disease is less than 20%3 (Figure 1).