Balloon Pulmonary Angioplasty Improves Biventricular Functions and Pulmonary Flow in Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension

Background:It remains to be determined whether balloon pulmonary angioplasty (BPA) improves biventricular cardiac functions and pulmonary flow in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH).Methods and Results:We enrolled 30 consecutive patients with inoperable CTEPH who underwent BPA, and carried out serial cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR; M/F, 9/21; median age, 65.2 years). No patient died during the treatment or follow-up period. BPA significantly improved WHO functional class (III/IV, 83.0 to 4.0%), 6-min walking distance (330.2±168.7 to 467.3±114.4 m), mean pulmonary artery pressure (40.8±10.7 to 23.2±4.94 mmHg), pulmonary vascular resistance (9.26±4.19 to 3.35±1.40 WU) and cardiac index (2.19±0.64 to 2.50±0.57 L·min·m2; all P