Latent Pulmonary Hypertension (PH) in Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension (CTEPH )After Endarterectomy and Influence of Exercise and Respiratory Therapy

Study Purpose

Severe CTEPH leads to an impaired physical capacity and a restricted quality of life and poor prognosis. Pulmonary endarterectomy represents the best choice as therapy, when the thrombi are located in the central pulmonary vessels and therefore can be operated. By this operation the pulmonary artery pressure can be normalised and the patients' survival improved. Up to now, after successful endarterectomy patients only receive anticoagulation. Despite operation many patients remain symptomatic and are restricted in their physical capacity. Therefore a hypothesis of this project is that most of the patients, even after successful operation, show peripheral vascular remodelling with a ventilation-perfusion mismatch and elevated pulmonary pressure during exercise. In this study we aim to analyse how many patients with CTEPH after endarterectomy show elevated pulmonary artery pressures at rest or during exercise and are limited in their physical capacity, hemodynamics, oxygen uptake and quality of life and need further therapy. Another aim is to examine whether exercise and respiratory therapy may improve the patients postoperatively. Therefore 30 patients with CTEPH > six months after endarterectomy, with ongoing restricted exercise capacity shall be included. After baseline examination in the University hospital Heidelberg the patients receive exercise and respiratory therapy for three weeks. The patients will receive further examinations at the end of rehabilitation after 3 weeks and after 15 weeks. All examinations include medical history, family history, physical examination, ECG and echocardiography at rest and during exercise, cardiopulmonary exercise testing, assessment of the respiratory muscle strength, the SF-36 questionnaire for quality of life, laboratory testing and MRI. Rehabilitation will be conducted in the clinic for rehabilitation Koenigstuhl, Heidelberg. Participants will be randomised into two groups, a control group receiving a conventional therapy for three weeks, in which physical exertion is to be avoided and a training group with additional exercise and respiratory therapy.

Recruitment Criteria

Accepts Healthy Volunteers Healthy volunteers are participants who do not have a disease or condition, or related conditions or symptoms	No
Study Type An interventional clinical study is where participants are assigned to receive one or more interventions (or no intervention) so that researchers can evaluate the effects of the interventions on biomedical or health-related outcomes. An observational clinical study is where participants identified as belonging to study groups are assessed for biomedical or health outcomes. Searching Both is inclusive of interventional and observational studies.	Interventional
Eligible Ages	18 Years - 75 Years
Gender	All

More Inclusion & Exclusion Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

- A Screening.

1. Informed consent. 2. Men and women 18

- 75 years.

3. Patients ≥ 6 months after endarterectomy because of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH)

- B Training.

See A + all patients who showed a restricted physical capacity in the screening:

- Latent pulmonary hypertension.

- Restricted physical capacity.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Pregnancy or lactation. 2. Change in medication during the last 2 months. 3. Patients with signs of right heart decompensation. 4. Disease which affects the gait. 5. Unclear diagnosis. 6. Acute illness, infection, fever. 7. Severe lung diseases with FEV1 <50% and TLC< 70% of reference

Trial Details

Trial ID: This trial id was obtained from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, providing information on publicly and privately supported clinical studies of human participants with locations in all 50 States and in 196 countries.	NCT00477724
Phase Phase 1: Studies that emphasize safety and how the drug is metabolized and excreted in humans. Phase 2: Studies that gather preliminary data on effectiveness (whether the drug works in people who have a certain disease or condition) and additional safety data. Phase 3: Studies that gather more information about safety and effectiveness by studying different populations and different dosages and by using the drug in combination with other drugs. Phase 4: Studies occurring after FDA has approved a drug for marketing, efficacy, or optimal use.	N/A
Lead Sponsor The sponsor is the organization or person who oversees the clinical study and is responsible for analyzing the study data.	Heidelberg University
Principal Investigator The person who is responsible for the scientific and technical direction of the entire clinical study.	Ekkehard Gruenig, MD
Principal Investigator Affiliation	Thoraxclinic at the University Hospital Heidelberg
Agency Class Category of organization(s) involved as sponsor (and collaborator) supporting the trial.	Other
Overall Status	Recruiting
Countries	Germany
Conditions The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied.	Pulmonary Hypertension, Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension

Arms & Interventions

Arms

Placebo Comparator: sedentary control group

patients are treated by conventional rehabilitation

Active Comparator: exercise and respiratory therapy

rehabilitation with exercise and respiratory therapy

Interventions

Behavioral: - exercise and respiratory therapy

exercise and respiratory therapy for three weeks in-hospital and 15 weeks at home

Other: - sedentary control group

control group with no specific training

Contact a Trial Team

If you are interested in learning more about this trial, find the trial site nearest to your location and contact the site coordinator via email or phone. We also strongly recommend that you consult with your healthcare provider about the trials that may interest you and refer to our terms of service below.