1. Unexpected Acceleration in Treprostinil Delivery Administered by a Lenus Pro® Implantable Pump in Two Patients Treated for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
- Author
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Garance Kopp, Anne-Lise Hachulla, Stéphane Noble, Aurélien Bringard, Paola M. Soccal, Maurice Beghetti, and Frédéric Lador
- Subjects
Prostacyclin analogs ,medicine.medical_specialty ,implantable pump ,internal device ,Prospective data ,Case Report ,030204 cardiovascular system & hematology ,Pulmonary arterial hypertension ,ddc:616.0757 ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,pulmonary arterial hypertension ,Internal medicine ,medicine ,Internal device ,prostacyclin analogs ,ddc:616 ,Implantable Pump ,lcsh:R5-920 ,ddc:618 ,ddc:617 ,business.industry ,Continuous flow ,Implantable pump ,General Medicine ,030228 respiratory system ,Cardiology ,Medicine ,treprostinil delivery ,Treprostinil delivery ,lcsh:Medicine (General) ,business ,Treprostinil ,medicine.drug - Abstract
Intravenous treprostinil administration by an implantable pump is an attractive option for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) treatment and is the subject of recent publications. Short-term studies are promising, but there is still a lack of long-term prospective data. We analyzed the treprostinil flow rate administered by the Lenus Pro® implantable pump in 2 patients suffering from PAH during follow-up times of respectively 4.2 and 3 years. The flow rate delivered by the pumps in these 2 patients exceeded the manufacturer admitted margin of error within 2 years and continued to increase to reach, respectively, 158 and 120% of the expected flow rate at the end of the follow up. In one case, the implantable pump had to be removed for this reason. The ex-vivo flow rate of the withdrawn pump determined in the laboratory reached 173% of the predicted value. This correlated with the in-vivo measurement, which suggests a continuous flow increase even after pump removal and without treprostinil use. Spontaneous flow increase from such an implantable pump is a potentially major pitfall, which needs to be identified and actively managed by the responsible clinicians.
- Published
- 2020
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