Bisoprolol therapy does not reduce right ventricular sympathetic activity in pulmonary arterial hypertension patients.

ABSTRACT: Right ventricular (RV) function and autonomic dysfunction are important determinants of morbidity and mortality in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Although successful in animal studies, effects of beta-blocker therapy on RV function in clinical trials were disappointing. To understand this discrepancy, we studied whether beta-blocker therapy changes RV sympathetic activity. Idiopathic PAH (IPAH) patients received beta-blocker therapy (uptitrated to a maximal tolerated dose) and underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, right heart catheterization, and a [11C]-hydroxyephedrine positron emission tomography ([11C]HED PET) scan at baseline to determine, respectively, RV ejection fraction (RVEF), RV pressures, and sympathetic activity. [11C]HED, a norepinephrine analogu

SUBMITTER: Rijnierse MT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7187746 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr-Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature