Pulmonary artery denervation, a "future hope" for PAH patients

In this research, the World Health Organisation placed those patients in Group II who had PAH due to left heart disease. These patients had mean pulmonary arterial pressure or mPAP of greater than 20 mm Hg and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure or PCWP greater than 15 mm Hg.

As per the results of the PADN-5 trial, patients treated with the PADN denervation catheter had reduced clinical worsening for PAH patients compared to sildenafil and a sham procedure.

As per the TROPHY II trial, ten patients' denervation using TIVUS intravascular ultrasound catheter improved exercise hemodynamics and capacity from baseline to 4 months. No gain was seen in 2 patients; one was evicted due to resuming his smoking habit, while the second one underwent a 4-month follow-up not long after recovering from severe COVID-19. There was little increase in exercise capacity measures as depicted in the Cardiopulmonary tests.

PADN-5 results showed improvement in a significant degree in hemodynamic parameters like mean pulmonary arterial pressure, pulmonary vascular resistance, and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure at six months in the intervention group compared to the sham group. The sham group had a greater diuretics need and the use of three or more of the foundational HF.

There was a net increase in 6-minute walk distance in the denervation group at six months. "Cardiopulmonary deaths were more common in sham-treated patients.", they reported.

They further said, "The 3-year follow-up of PADN-5 presented with long-term benefits of PADN for patients with CpcPH."

The procedure was well tolerated, and one device-related event was recorded.