Treprostinil Treatment Appears to Improve Health of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Patients: Presented at CHEST

"There is limited information on the long-term use of treprostinil for treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension," said Francisco Soto, MD, assistant professor of pulmonary/critical care medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

In his oral presentation on October 24th, Dr. Soto reviewed the changes in patients' distance on the 6-minute walk test, finding significant improvement at both 6 months and 1 year of treatment.

At baseline, 32 evaluable patients were able to walk an average of 226 m, but increased that distance to 277 m after 6 months of treprostinil therapy (P = .001). After 12 months, the 23 evaluable patients had increased their distance on the 6-minute walk test from a baseline of 243 m to 329 m (P = .0009).

In the 1-year follow-up of 31 patients on treprostinil who, at the start of the study, had an average World Health Organization Class of 3.12, the average was reduced to 1.83 (P = .001), Dr. Soto said. After 1 year, among 20 patients evaluated for cardiac index, the difference from an average of 2.92 to 3.44 reached statistical significance (P = .02), he said.

Most patients who discontinued use of the drug complained of pain at the site of injection, but in 41 patients who began using the drug in 2002 at his institution, 7 patients stopped their treatment -- and 2 of these patients stopped because of pain at the site of injection. Three other patients died, 1 was incarcerated and 1 received a transplant.

"Subcutaneous administration of treprostinil is an excellent alternative for severe pulmonary arterial hypertension," Dr. Soto concluded. "It has a safe profile, good tolerance and clinical and hemodynamic benefits."

Dr. Soto said the retrospective study was initiated by the investigators, who did not receive any funds from pharmaceutical or other industry sources.