The effectiveness of scoring balloon angioplasty in the treatment of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension

BACKGROUND: Balloon pulmonary angioplasty (BPA) is an effective treatment for inoperable chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). The purpose of this study is to evaluate the therapeutic effect and safety of the non-slip element percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (NSE PTA) scoring balloons in BPA. METHODS: 108 pulmonary artery branches in 14 CTEPH patients who underwent BPA using NSE PTA scoring balloon (the NSE PTA group) or plain balloon (the POBA group) and pressure gradient evaluation were analyzed. We compared the improvement of the pressure ratios after BPA (Δ Pressure ratio) of both groups. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the Δ Pressure ratios of the two groups (0.241 ± 0.196 POBA, 0.259 ± 0.177 NSE PTA, p = 0.63). No complications occurred in the NSE PTA group, while 3 episodes of hemoptysis were seen in the POBA group. This, however, was not found to be significant (p = 0.27). In the cases where balloon-to-vessel ratio exceeded 1.0 (n = 35), multivariate analysis showed that the use of NSE PTA scoring balloon and pressure ratio before BPA were significantly correlated with Δ Pressure ratio (β coefficient: 0.047, 95% CI: 0.0016 to 0.093, p = 0.043 and β coefficient: −0.60, 95% CI: −0.78 to −0.42, p < 0.01, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Although NSE PTA scoring balloon was safe, there was no significant pressure gradient improvement with NSE PTA scoring balloon compared to conventional BPA. Nevertheless, the NSE PTA scoring balloon showed effective blood-flow improvement in the case of large balloon-to-vessel ratio.