Pulmonary veno-occlusive disease presenting with recurrent pulmonary oedema and the use of nitric oxide to predict response to sildenafil
- 1Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK
- 2Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK
- 3National Pulmonary Hypertension Service, Department of Cardiac Sciences, The Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust, London, UK
- Dr B C Creagh-Brown, St George’s Hospital, Blackshaw Road, Tooting, London SW17 0QT, UK; drbencb{at}gmail.com
- Received 17 August 2007
- Accepted 22 January 2008
Abstract
Pulmonary veno-occlusive disease (PVOD) is a disorder which causes progressive pulmonary hypertension, usually presenting with worsening dyspnoea and right heart failure. Pulmonary oedema induced by pulmonary vasodilator therapy to reduce pulmonary arterial pressure has been well described in PVOD, but here we describe a case of PVOD presenting with recurrent episodes of acute non-cardiogenic pulmonary oedema, in the absence of significant pulmonary hypertension. Concern over the risk of precipitating pulmonary oedema led us to use inhaled nitric oxide to predict the safety and efficacy of sildenafil.
Footnotes
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Competing interests: None.
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Patient consent: Obtained from the patient's next of kin.
