Soluble Guanylate Cyclase Stimulators (Riociguat) in Pulmonary Hypertension: Data from Real-Life Clinical Practice in a 3-Year Follow-Up

Abstract

Background: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a rare and complex disease with poor prognosis, which requires lifelong treatment. Objective: To describe 3-year follow-up real-life data on treatment with soluble guanylate cyclase stimulators (Riociguat) of patients with PH, measuring current risk assessment parameters. Methods: This study retrospectively collected clinical and epidemiological data of patients with PH of group 1 (pulmonary arterial hypertension) and group 4 (chronic thromboembolic PH). Non-invasive and invasive parameters corresponding to the risk assessment were analyzed at baseline and follow-up. Statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS 18.0 software, and p-values < 0.050 were considered statistically significant. Results: In total, 41 patients receiving riociguat were included in the study. Of them, 31 had already completed 3 years of treatment and were selected for the following analysis. At baseline, 70.7% of patients were in WHO functional class III or IV. After 3 years of treatment, the WHO functional class significantly improved in all patients. In addition, the median of the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) significantly increased from 394 ± 91 m at baseline to 458 ± 100 m after 3 years of follow-up (p= 0.014). The three-year survival rate was 96.7%. Conclusion: In our real-life cohort, most patients with PH treated with riociguat showed stable or improved risk parameters, especially in the 6MWT, at 3 years of follow-up.