MONDAY, Dec. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Adding inhaled iloprost to bosentan therapy is safe and can improve mobility in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension, according to a report in the December issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Vallerie V. McLaughlin, M.D., of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and colleagues compared the effect of adding inhaled iloprost or placebo to bosentan therapy for 12 weeks in 67 patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension.
After 12 weeks, patients on iloprost experienced an increase in six-minute walking distance of 30 meters, compared with an increase of four meters for placebo patients. Thirty-four percent of iloprost patients experienced a one-stage improvement in their New York Heart Association diagnostic status, versus 6 percent of placebo patients. Iloprost also postponed deterioration of patients' condition.
Combination therapy was well tolerated and resulted in improvements in both post-inhalation mean pulmonary artery pressure and pulmonary vascular resistance.
"Within the limitations of a relatively small sample size, results of this study demonstrate that the addition of inhaled Iloprost in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension with reduced exercise capacity on bosentan monotherapy is safe and efficacious," the authors write.
The study was funded by CoTherix, Inc. of South San Francisco.
Abstract
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