Lorenz Räber1, MD; Yasushi Ueki1, MD; Irene M. Lang2, MD
1. Department of Cardiology, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland; 2. Department of Internal Medicine II, Division of Cardiology, Vienna General Hospital, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Figure 1. Imaging of left A10 before and after balloon angioplasty. Panels A-C illustrate angiograms. Panels D and E show OCT images in the planes highlighted in panels A and C.
A 65-year-old dyspnoeic male was diagnosed with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) and a mean pulmonary arterial pressure of 45 mmHg, cardiac index of 2.4 L/min/m2, and pulmonary vascular resistance of 560 dyn·s·cm–5. The interdisciplinary PH board classified the patient’s CTEPH as technically operable with a poor risk-benefit ratio. An alternative mechanical treatment is balloon pulmonary angioplasty (BPA), a recently ...