Effects of continuous IV prostacyclin in a patient with pulmonary veno-occlusive disease

Pulmonary veno-occlusive disease (PVOD) is a rare but life-threatening disease. Although prostacyclin (PGI(2)) attenuates pulmonary hypertension and improves the prognosis in patients with primary pulmonary hypertension, little information is available regarding the effect of PGI(2) on patients with PVOD. This report describes a patient with severe PVOD who showed marked improvement in exercise capacity and pulmonary hemodynamics with continuous IV PGI(2) treatment. Furthermore, he experienced no clinical events for 12 months and survived for 25 months after the initiation of PGI(2) therapy. These results suggest that continuous IV PGI(2) therapy may serve as a bridge to transplantation in some cases of PVOD.