Surgical Treatment of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

Significant advances in the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension have occurred in the last several years. The decision to refer a patient for transplantation requires a dynamic approach. Candidate selection and timing of referral to transplant centers is critical for success, particularly with current allocation protocols that do not take into account the severity of illness. Though long-term success is tempered by chronic allograft dysfunction and infection, considerable improvements in outcomes have established lung transplantation for pulmonary arterial hypertension as an efficacious and life-prolonging treatment. However, transplantation should be reserved for patients who have failed the best available medical therapy. Ideally, transplantation occurs when the clinically deteriorating patient has enough reserve to survive long enough to be transplanted but is not debilitated enough to jeopardize the graft. There is significant uncertainty with regard to this ideal.