Acute lung injury after balloon pulmonary angioplasty results in a similar haemodynamic response and possible clinical advantage at follow‐up

Abstract Acute lung injury (ALI) is a common but poorly defined and understood complication of balloon pulmonary angioplasty (BPA) for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). Little data are available on the medium term clinical outcomes of BPA complicated by ALI. We analyzed per‐procedure data from 282 procedures in 109 patients and per‐patient data from 85 patients. Serial right heart catheterization at baseline, after each BPA and at 3‐month follow‐up measured pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR), mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP), and cardiac output (CO). ALI (ALI+) was identified by chest radiography alone (ALIr+) or in association with hypoxia clinically (ALIcr+). Procedural predictors of ALI and patient outcomes at 3‐months were compared no ALI (ALI−). ALI+ occurred in 17/282 (6.0%) procedures (ALIcr+: 2.5%, ALIr+: 3.5%). Prevailing haemodynamics (PVR: p