Results from more than 20 years of surgical pulmonary endarterectomy for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension in Denmark.

OBJECTIVES: Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension is a fatal disease if left untreated, and pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA) is the potentially curable treatment of choice. We aimed to estimate the current in-hospital mortality rate, complication rate and long-term survival for patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension undergoing PEA in Denmark.

METHODS: All chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension patients who underwent PEA in the period 1994 till 2016 were consecutively enrolled in our single-centre study. All patients were followed from PEA until death or end of study. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to estimate the 3-, 5- and 10-year survival rates with 95% confidence interval (CI).

RESULTS: In total, 239 patients were operated in the study period. A significant reduction in mean pulmonary arterial pressure from 48 mmHg to 33 mmHg, and pulmonary vascular resistance from 800 dynes s cm-5 to 289 dynes s cm-5, was observed during the first postoperative day after PEA. Overall, in-hospital mortality rate was 8.4%. A significantly lower mortality rate in the late decade (2005-2016) compared with the early decade (1994-2004) was observed (4.3% vs 22.6%, P < 0.001). In-hospital mortality during the last 5 years (n = 80) was 2.5%. Three-, 5- and 10-year survival rates were 84% (CI: 77.8-88), 77% (CI: 70.7-82.7) and 62% (CI: 53-69.1), respectively. The majority of patients improved in World Health Organization functional class from III/IV to I/II and significantly increased their 6-min walking distance.

CONCLUSIONS: PEA in Denmark is associated with a low in-hospital mortality rate and significant improvements in both haemodynamics and exercise capacity. Long-term survival is excellent and similar to high-volume international centres.