Reversible pulmonary hypertension in heart transplant candidates-pretransplant evaluation and outcome after orthotopic heart transplantation

Background: Heart transplantation is the most effective treatment for well‐selected patients with endstage heart failure. Unfortunately, transplant candidates with pulmonary hypertension (PHT) are often not considered for heart transplantation. This study was performed to assess the value of prostaglandin E1 (PG‐E1) for reduction of PHT and to predict the postoperative outcome, compared to patients without PHT. Patients and methods: We studied a group of 151 consecutive heart transplant candidates using right heart catheterization. In patients with PHT (pulmonary vascular resistance, PVR≥2.5 Wood‐Units (WU) and/or transpulmonary gradient (TPG)≥12 mmHg) a short‐term treatment protocol with PG‐E1 was performed, to achieve PVR