Experience with Inhaled Iloprost Used in the Surgical Treatment of Chronic Postthromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension

The paper describes a case of inhaled iloprost use in a female patient with severe respiratory failure after pulmonary artery thromboendarterectomy, who was on venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. To reduce pulmonary hypertension and to prevent reperfusion syndrome, the patient received inhaled iloprost in a dose of 5 ^g every 3 hours during surgery and in the first two days after surgery. On day 14 after surgery, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation was stopped as there were satisfactory respiratory and hemodynamic parameters. Four days later, the patient was weaned from mechanical ventilation. The length of stay in the intensive care unit was 24 days. The patient was discharged from hospital in a satisfactory condition. Thus, the perioperative use of iloprost could reduce pulmonary artery pressure by twice; however, reperfusion syndrome could not prevent significant respiratory failure. The data available in the literature on the use of ilo-prost in patients after pulmonary artery thromboendarterectomy are single and their results are ambiguous. There is a need for large-scale multicenter studies in this group of patients.