Soluble Guanylate Cyclase Stimulators (Riociguat) in Pulmonary Hypertension: Data from Real-Life Clinical Practice in a 3-Year Follow-Up

Background  Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a rare and complex disease with poor prognosis, which requires lifelong treatment.

Objective  To describe 3-year follow-up real-life data on treatment with soluble guanylate cyclase stimulators (Riociguat) of patients with PH, measuring current risk assessment parameters.

Methods  This study retrospectively collected clinical and epidemiological data of patients with PH of group 1 (pulmonary arterial hypertension) and group 4 (chronic thromboembolic PH). Non-invasive and invasive parameters corresponding to the risk assessment were analyzed at baseline and follow-up. Statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS 18.0 software, and p-values < 0.050 were considered statistically significant.

Results  In total, 41 patients receiving riociguat were included in the study. Of them, 31 had already completed 3 years of treatment and were selected for the following analysis. At baseline, 70.7% of patients were in WHO functional class III or IV. After 3 years of treatment, the WHO functional class significantly improved in all patients. In addition, the median of the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) significantly increased from 394 ± 91 m at baseline to 458 ± 100 m after 3 years of follow-up (p= 0.014). The three-year survival rate was 96.7%.

Conclusion  In our real-life cohort, most patients with PH treated with riociguat showed stable or improved risk parameters, especially in the 6MWT, at 3 years of follow-up.

Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension; Hypertension, Pulmonary; Pulmonary Wedge Pressure