Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T14:53:16.740Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Bosentan for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension associated with congenital cardiac disease

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2006

Eugene Kotlyar
Affiliation:
St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, Australia
Raymond Sy
Affiliation:
Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, Australia
Anne M. Keogh
Affiliation:
St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, Australia
Fiona Kermeen
Affiliation:
Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane, Australia
Peter S. Macdonald
Affiliation:
St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, Australia
Christopher S. Hayward
Affiliation:
St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, Australia
Keith D. McNeil
Affiliation:
Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane, Australia
David S. Celermajer
Affiliation:
Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, Australia

Abstract

Aims: Bosentan is efficacious in idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension, and the variants associated with connective tissue disease, but not currently approved for treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension due to Eisenmenger's syndrome. We sought to evaluate its effect in adults with Eisenmenger's syndrome. Methods: We administered bosentan on the basis of compassionate use in 23 patients with Eisenmenger's syndrome, aged 37 plus or minus 14 years. Of the patients, 17 had never received specific treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension, five were transitioned from treprostinil, and one from beraprost to bosentan. We measured functional class, saturation of oxygen, haemoglobin levels and six-minute walk distance at baseline, one, six months and at most recent follow-up. Results: Baseline functional class was IV in three, III in fifteen, and II in five patients. At follow-up, with a mean of 15 plus or minus 10 months, 13 of the 23 patients (57%) had improved by at least one functional class, from a median baseline of III to II (p equal to 0.016), mean saturation of oxygen at rest had increased from 81% to 84% (p equal to 0.001), and levels of haemoglobin had decreased from 178 plus or minus 26 grams per litre to 167 plus or minus 19 grams per litre (p equal to 0.001). Overall, the six-minute walk distance did not change from baseline of 335 metres. The distance walked by those not previously receiving specific therapy, however, improved from 318 plus or minus 129 to 345 plus or minus 123 metres (p equal to 0.03). Conclusion: Treatment of adults with Eisenmenger's syndrome using bosentan significantly improved functional class, saturation of oxygen at rest, and decreased levels of haemoglobin. Treatment with bosentan was associated with improvement in six-minute walk distance in those not previously receiving specific therapy. In patients already in receipt of specific therapy, transition to bosentan resulted in no clinical deterioration.

Type
Original Article
Copyright
© 2006 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Channick RN, Simonneau G, Sitbon O, et al. Effects of the dual endothelin-receptor antagonist bosentan in patients with pulmonary hypertension: a randomised placebo-controlled study. Lancet 2001; 358: 11191123.Google Scholar
Rubin LJ, Badesch DB, Barst RJ, et al. Bosentan therapy for pulmonary arterial hypertension. N Engl J Med 2002; 346: 896903.Google Scholar
Keogh A, Macdonald P, Williams T, et al. Tracleer® (bosentan) for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension: the six month quality of life data. J Heart Lung Transplant 2004; 23: S54 (abstr 36).Google Scholar
Galie N, Hinderliter AL, Torbicki A. Effects of the oral endothelin-receptor antagonist bosentan on echocardiographic and Doppler measures in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension. J Am Coll Cardiol 2003; 41: 13801386.Google Scholar
McLaughlin VV, Sitbon O, Badesch DB, et al. Survival with first-line bosentan in patients with primary pulmonary hypertension. Eur Respir J 2005; 2: 244249.Google Scholar
Wagenvoort CA, Wagenvoort N. Pathology of the Eisenmenger syndrome and primary pulmonary hypertension. Adv Cardiol 1974; 11: 123130.Google Scholar
Hopkins WE, Ochoa LL, Richardson GW, Trulock EP. Comparison of the haemodynamics and survival of adults with severe primary pulmonary hypertension or Eisenmenger syndrome. J Heart Lung Transplant 1996; 15: 100105.Google Scholar
Simonneau G, Barst RJ, Galie N, et al. Treprostinil Study Group. Continuous subcutaneous infusion of treprostinil, a prostacyclin analogue, in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2002; 165: 800804.Google Scholar
McLaughlin VV, Shillington A, Rich S. Survival in primary pulmonary hypertension: the impact of epoprostenol therapy. Circulation 2002; 106: 14771482.Google Scholar
Rosenzweig EB, Kerstein D, Barst RJ. Long-term prostacyclin for pulmonary hypertension with associated congenital heart defects. Circulation 1999; 99: 18581865.Google Scholar
Christensen DD, McConnell ME, Book WM, Mahle WT. Initial experience with bosentan therapy in patients with the Eisenmenger syndrome. Am J Cardiol 2004; 94: 261263.Google Scholar
Benza RL, Rayburn BK, Tallaj JA, et al. The safety and efficacy of bosentan in pulmonary hypertension due to congenital heart disease. J Heart Lung Transplant 2003; 22: S152 (abstr 242).Google Scholar
Gatzoulis M, Rogers P, Li W, et al. Safety and tolerability of bosentan in adults with Eisenmenger physiology. Int J Cardiol 2005; 98: 14751.Google Scholar
Sitbon O, Beghetti M, Petit J, et al. The endothelin receptor antagonist bosentan for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension associated with congenital heart defects. Eur Heart J 2004; 25: S22 (abstr 219).Google Scholar
Bowyer JJ, Busst CM, Denison DM, Shinebourne EA. Effect of long term oxygen treatment at home in children with pulmonary vascular disease. Br Heart J 1986; 55: 385390.Google Scholar
Sandoval J, Aguirre JS, Pulido T, et al. Nocturnal oxygen therapy in patients with the Eisenmenger syndrome. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2001; 164: 16821687.Google Scholar
Sitbon O, Badesch DB, Channick RN, et al. Effects of the dual endothelin receptor antagonist bosentan in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension: a 1-year follow-up study. Chest 2003; 124: 247254.Google Scholar
Rosenzweig EB, Barst RJ. Eisenmenger's syndrome: current management. Prog Cardiovasc Dis 2002; 45: 129138.Google Scholar
Kapoor A, Sheppard R, Panyon J, Mathier MA, MacGowan GA, Murali S. Clinical outcome comparison in pulmonary artery hypertension patients treated with Epoprostenol and Bosentan. Circulation 2003; 108: IV-11 (abstr 52).Google Scholar
Humbert M, Barst RJ, Robbins IM, et al. Combination of bosentan with epoprostenol in pulmonary arterial hypertension: BREATHE-2. Eur Respir J 2004; 24: 353359.Google Scholar
Reichenberger F, Howard L, Parameshwar J, Morrell NW, Pepke-Zaba J. Nebulised iloprost in pulmonary arterial hypertension due to Eisenmengers syndrome. J Heart Lung Transplant 2003; 22: S153 (abstr 244).Google Scholar
Michelakis ED, Tymchak W, Noga M, et al. Long-term treatment with oral sildenafil is safe and improves functional capacity and hemodynamics in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension. Circulation 2003; 108: 20662069.Google Scholar
Mikhail GW, Prasad SK, Li W, et al. Clinical and haemodynamic effects of sildenafil in pulmonary hypertension: acute and mid-term effects. Eur Heart J 2004; 25: 431436.Google Scholar
Sastry BKS, Narasimhan C, Reddy NK, Raju BS. Clinical efficacy of sildenafil in primary pulmonary hypertension: a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, crossover study. J Am Coll Cardiol 2004; 43: 11491153.Google Scholar
Rosenthal E. Circulation. 2004; 109: e197.Google Scholar
Dharmadhikari A, Airoldi F, Tzifos V, Sheiban I, Pathak L, Bansal N. Sildenafil in the treatment of atrial septal defect with moderate to severe pulmonary arterial hypertension. Eur Heart J 2004; 25: S10 (abstr 155).Google Scholar
Lacassie HJ, Germain AM, Valdes G, Fernandez MS, Allamand F, Lopez H. Management of Eisenmenger syndrome in pregnancy with sildenafil and L-arginine. Obstet Gynecol 2004; 103: 11181120.Google Scholar
Lewis GD, Bloch KD, Semigran MJ. Pulmonary thromboembolism superimposed on a congenital ventricular septal defect in a 50-year-old man: inhaled nitric oxide and sildenafil to the rescue. Cardiol Rev. 2004; 4: 188190.Google Scholar
Ovadia B, Reinhartz O, Fitzgerald R, et al. Alterations in ET-1, not nitric oxide, in 1-week-old lambs with increased pulmonary blood flow. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2003; 284: H480H490.Google Scholar
Beghetti M, Black SM, Fineman JR. Endothelin-1 in congenital heart disease. Pediatr Res 2005; 57: R16R20.Google Scholar
Luscher TF, Barton M. Endothelins and endothelin receptor antagonists: therapeutic considerations for a novel class of cardiovascular drugs. Circulation 2000; 102: 24342440.Google Scholar
Barst RJ, Ivy D, Dingemanse J, et al. Pharmacokinetics, safety, and efficacy of bosentan in pediatric patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension. Clin Pharmacol Ther 2003; 73: 372382.Google Scholar