Balloon pulmonary angioplasty for symptomatic chronic thromboembolic disease without pulmonary hypertension at rest

Patients with chronic thromboembolic disease (CTED) have chronic thromboembolic obstructions of the pulmonary arteries with exercise intolerance, but without signs of pulmonary hypertension at rest. We investigated the efficacy of balloon pulmonary angioplasty (BPA) for CTED patients. Fifteen CTED patients (4 males, 11 females) who underwent BPA were enrolled. The inclusion criteria were 1) chronic thromboembolic obstructions of the pulmonary artery identified on ventilation–perfusion scans and pulmonary angiography, 2) WHO functional class II or greater, and 3) mean PAP of