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Despite widespread public health concern regarding opioid misuse and overuse, there is a paucity of literature on the acute and chronic pulmonary vascular and cardiac implications of excipient lung disease. This case series describes the clinical presentation of five adult patients who experienced profound pulmonary hypertension and right heart failure in the setting of confirmed or suspected crushed opioid injection at a single academic center between 2012 and 2019. The clinical characteristics and right heart catheterization data presented in these cases demonstrate the acute intravascular effects of the intravenous injection of crushed opioids and potential for hemodynamic collapse. Moreover, these cases suggest that survivors of acute excipient lung disease may develop chronic pulmonary vascular disease. Further studies are needed to explore the epidemiology and outcomes of oral opioid-induced intravascular excipient lung disease to increase awareness of this life-threatening complication among health care professionals and guide treatment and prevention measures., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Macitentan is a novel, dual endothelin receptor antagonist recently approved for the treatment of WHO Group I pulmonary arterial hypertension. Its pharmacologic mechanism of action as well as the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and potential drug-drug interactions have been demonstrated in multiple phase I and II trials. The pivotal randomized, placebo-controlled, event-driven clinical trial revealed a significant reduction in morbidity. The most common adverse events were rarely clinically significant, nor did they result in a high rate of discontinuation. Of note, macitentan is contraindicated in pregnant women due to embryo-fetal toxicity., (Copyright 2014 Prous Science, S.A.U. or its licensors. All rights reserved.)