Why the study?
Does long-acting oral beraprost improve pulmonary vascular resistance and exercise capacity in patients with mild to moderate pulmonary arterial hypertension?
Does long-acting oral beraprost improve pulmonary vascular resistance and exercise capacity in patients with mild to moderate pulmonary arterial hypertension?
A novel long-acting oral beraprost formulation was well tolerated and improved hemodynamic and functional parameters in a small pilot study of PAH patients.
Should not change PAH practice; hypothesis-generating for long-acting beraprost and requires randomized confirmation.
BACKGROUND: Oral prostacyclin analogs can improve the prognosis of patients with mild to moderate pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), but because they often provoke adverse effects, such as flushing and dizziness, administering the optimal dose can be difficult. METHODS AND RESULTS: In the present study, a novel long-acting oral beraprost (TRK-100STP: 0-360 mug/day for 12 weeks) was administered to 4 patients with mild to moderate PAH. The patients tolerated the drug well with mild adverse manifestations and negligible effects on the systemic circulation. In contrast, pulmonary vascular resistance decreased by 27+/-12% and the 6-min walk test distance increased by 11+/-11%. CONCLUSIONS: TRK-100STP is a novel option in the medical management of patients with PAH.
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Ikeda et al. (2007) studied this question.