On the afternoon of August 2, the team of director Li Xiaolan of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine of the First People's Hospital of Xiangyang City successfully performed percutaneous pulmonary artery denervation (PADN) for a patient with idiopathic pulmonary hypertension, which is also the first clinical application of China's original new technology for the treatment of pulmonary hypertension in a municipal hospital in Hubei Province.
Mr. Qu, 60 years old, has been experiencing significant chest tightness and shortness of breath after every activity since a year ago, which has seriously affected his daily life. Mr. Qu has visited several hospitals, but the cause of his illness is not clear.
Until recently, Mr. Qu came to the First People's Hospital of Xiangyang City for help. Li Xiaolan, director of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine of the First People's Hospital of Xiangyang City, led the medical team to repeatedly discuss Mr. Qu's condition, and finally found the "culprit". After a detailed examination, Mr. Qu was diagnosed with severe idiopathic pulmonary hypertension.
Pulmonary hypertension was once considered a "cardiovascular cancer" because of its difficulty and high risk of treatment. For the treatment of pulmonary hypertension, the current treatment methods are very limited, and only a few targeted drugs can be used to improve the exercise ability of patients, but in real life, due to the influence of many factors, many patients are still unable to achieve the expected goals of treatment after existing treatment. There is an urgent need for more treatment options and further therapeutic interventions to improve patient outcomes and solve existing dilemmas.
Although Mr. Qu's clinical symptoms improved significantly after treatment with two combinations of targeted drugs, there was no significant change in the measured mean pulmonary artery pressure. Faced with this situation, Director Li Xiaolan's team decided to perform percutaneous pulmonary artery denervation (PADN) for Mr. Qu under the guidance of remote consultation with Professor Chen Shaoliang of Nanjing First Hospital.
During the operation, Li Xiaolan's team and Professor Zhang Hang completed DSA pulmonary angiography for Mr. Qu, and combined with the anatomical characteristics of pulmonary artery CTA, they selected the best scale model of PADN ablation catheter. Eventually, the surgery was successfully completed. Mr. Qu's hemodynamic improvement was significant, the average pulmonary artery pressure decreased by about 14% (50 mmHg before surgery and 43 mmHg after surgery), all vital signs and monitoring indicators remained stable, and his body did not show obvious discomfort.
Li Xiaolan, director of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, said that the PADN pulmonary artery nerve radiofrequency ablation catheter was successfully applied in this operation to carry out "point-to-point" precise ablation of the pulmonary sympathetic nerve ablation target, which caused little harm to the patient, few complications, and fast postoperative recovery. The successful completion of this operation not only brings new hope for the treatment of pulmonary hypertension patients, but also opens up a new path for the treatment of pulmonary hypertension.