Exercise intolerance in chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension after pulmonary angioplasty

Exercise pulmonary hypertension is common in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) who experience shortness of breath during exercise and reduced exercise capacity despite normalised pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) at rest; however, the relationship between exercise pulmonary hypertension and exercise capacity remains unclear. Here we aimed to determine whether exercise pulmonary hypertension is related to exercise capacity and ventilatory efficiency in CTEPH patients with normalised resting haemodynamics after pulmonary balloon angioplasty (BPA). In total, 249 patients with CTEPH treated with BPA (mean±sd age 63±14 years; male:female 62:187) with normal mean PAP (mPAP) (3.0. At rest, pulmonary vascular resistance was significantly higher in the exercise pulmonary hypertension group (n=116) than in the non-exercise pulmonary hypertension group (n=133). Lower peak oxygen consumption (13.5±3.8 16.6±4.7 mL·min ·kg ; p