薗田 正浩¹, 檜作 薫¹, 鹿島 克郎², 田中 秀樹¹, 恒成 博¹, 橘 裕紀¹, 中村 一彦³

Masahiro SONODA¹, Kaori HIZUKURI¹, Katsurou KASHIMA², Hideki TANAKA¹, Hiroshi TSUNENARI¹, Hiroki TACHIBANA¹, Kazuhiko NAKAMURA³

¹国立病院九州循環器病センター第二循環器科, ²鹿児島大学医学部第二内科, ³国立病院九州循環器病センター臨床研究部

¹Second Department of Cardiology, National Hospital Kyusyu Cardiovascular Center, ²Second Department of Internal Medicine, University of Kagoshima Faculty of Medicine, ³Department of Clinical Research, National Hospital Kyusyu Cardiovascular Center

キーワード : epoprostenol (prostacyclin, PGI₂), primary pulmonary hypertension, transthoracic echocardiography

Continuous intravenous infusion of epoprostenol (prostacyclin, PGI₂) was introduced for home treatment in Japan in April 2000. The patient was a 30-year-old woman with primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH) who had received continuous intravenous epoprostenol. Right cardiac catheterization was performed before and 80 days after epoprostenol was carried out. Pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) decreased from 127/45 (mean, 71) to 96/28 (mean, 54) mm Hg; cardiac output (CO) increased from 2.92 to 4.77 L/min; and total pulmonary resistance (TPR) decreased from 24.3 to 11.3 units. PAP, left ventricular dimension estimated with echocardiography, and all clinical symptoms improved significantly after epoprostenol administration. The efficacy of continuous administration of intravenous epoprostenol was monitored by repeated transthoracic echocardiography.