Incidence of Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension (CTEPH) at six months of a Pulmonary Embolism (PE). OSIRIS Study

Background: CTEPH is one of the leading causes of severe pulmonary hypertension and can be devastating for those individuals who are affected. The exact incidence of CTEPH after a PE is debated depending on patient selection as well as CTEPH diagnostic criteria. Aim: To determine the incidence for CTEPH at six monyhs of a PE. Methods: A prospective study was conducted in 17 Spanish hospitals. All consecutive PE patients were recruited and followed-up according to a standarized set of clinical questions. Symptomatic patients underwent a structured evaluation with echocardiography and complete work-up for CTEPH. Results: 1065 patients were recruited from April of 2014. 1026 patients completed the follow-up until 6 months, 52% were males. There were significant differences in mean ages between males (63.8±14.7 years) and females (67.2±17.1 years) (p=0.001). Patients were haemodinamically unstable at PE diagnosis in 9%, cancer-associated-PE in 20%, incidental PE in 14% and with previous thromboembolic diseases in 12%. CTEPH with pathological imaging and a mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP) ≥25 mmHg at rest was confirmed in seven subjects; accumulated incidence of 6.82‰[CI95%: 2.74-14.0]. Conclusions: Accumulated incidence at 6 months after a PE was infrequent. Only the fourth part of patients who reparted symptons had CTEPH diagnostic criteria. Acknowledgment to Angelica Martin and Tania Jimenez (S-H Medical) for your support, and to Bayer Heathcare for partial funding.