Evaluation of anticoagulant therapy by pulmonary ventilation/perfusion imaging in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension / 中华核医学与分子影像杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the effect of anticoagulant therapy by pulmonary ventilation/perfusion (V/Q) imaging in chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) patients.Methods Thirtysix CTEPH patients (16 males,20 females,average age(53.8±13.8) years) diagnosed by pulmonary angiography from January 2013 to December 2015 were included in this retrospective study.All patients received anticoagulant therapy for more than 6 months.They underwent pulmonary V/Q imaging before and 6 months after anticoagulant therapy.The numbers of pulmonary segments with perfusion defect,percentage of perfusion defect score (PPDs) and pulmonary arterial systolic pressure (PASP) before and after anticoagulant therapy were measured by echocardiography.Pair t test was used for data analysis.Results Before anticoagulant therapy,there were 319 pulmonary segments with perfusion defect in 36 CTEPH patients,8.9± 3.4 on average,and reduced to 8.4+3.6 after anticoagulant therapy (t =3.101,P＜0.01).The PPDs before and after anticoagulant therapy were (43.3±19.7)％ and (40.8±+20.5)％ (t=2.364,P＜0.05).In the subgroup of 9 patients with improved pulmonary perfusion,the PASP significantly decreased from (68.7±27.3)to (56.1 +±34.8) mmHg (1 mm Hg =0.133 kPa;t =2.465,P＜ 0.05) after anticoagulant therapy.In contrast,in the subgroup of 27 patients with no improved pulmonary perfusion,the PASP before and after anticoagulant therapy were (71.3±26.9) and (76.7±35.0) mmHg respectively (t=-1.511,P＞0.05).Conclusion Pulmonary V/Q imaging is a reliable method for evaluating the changes of pulmonary perfusion before and after anticoagulant therapy,and it is valuable for assessing the effect of anticoagulant therapy in CTEPH patients.