Ventilation-perfusion relationships in pulmonary arterial hypertension: effect of intravenous and inhaled prostacyclin treatment.

Unlabelled: In seven patients with idiopathic or secondary pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), ventilation-perfusion (V (A)/Q ) relationships were measured during a right heart catheterization using the multiple inert-gas elimination technique before and during intravenous infusion with epoprostenol (EPO), and following 5 months of 20 microg inhaled iloprost taken three times daily (ILO). Pre-treatment pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) was 9.3+/-5.