title: Pulmonary artery ablation to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension: a case report.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension is defined as a group of diseases characterized by a progressive increase in pulmonary vascular resistance that results in right heart failure and premature death. Although therapies exist to improve hemodynamic instability and symptoms, there is no cure for pulmonary arterial hypertension and it remains a life-threatening condition. A recent study performed in China reported, for the first time, the effect of pulmonary arterial denervation on functional capacity and hemodynamics in patients with refractory idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension.
  
  
  METHODS
  We report a case of a 60-year-old white Brazilian man, with controlled hypertension and stage 2 obesity who complained of progressive fatigue with moderate to light exertion of approximately 1 year's duration. During this period, he underwent myocardial perfusion scintigraphy without evidence of obstructive ischemic disease. He had no clinical evidence of systolic heart failure. He had undergone biological mitral valve replacement 3 years previously for mitral valve stenosis and ablation of atrioventricular nodal reentry tachycardia 18 months previously. At the time of valve replacement, he had no reported evidence of pulmonary arterial hypertension. His echocardiogram showed normal function of a mitral prosthesis, normal global left ventricular systolic function (left ventricular ejection fraction 62 % measured using the Teichholz method), stage I diastolic dysfunction, and a mean systolic pulmonary arterial blood pressure of 50 mmHg. In the 6-minute walk test, the patient walked 104 meters. Catheterization of his right heart chambers and pulmonary arteries confirmed the diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension. Electroanatomic reconstruction of the right ventricular outflow tract and pulmonary artery was performed under direct fluoroscopic visualization, and a merger was made with a formatted image of cardiac computed tomography angiography. Then we performed irrigated cardiac catheter ablation of the pulmonary trunk.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  At the patient's 3-month follow-up, he showed improvement in functional class for fatigue on major exertion, increased distance walked in the 6-minute walk test, and reductions in pressure of both the right cavities and the pulmonary artery. Currently, with 6 months of clinical follow-up, the patient has maintained his functional classification and is pedaling his bicycle.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Surgery and Artificial Cardiac Stimulation, Sao Goncalo Hospital and Clinic, São Gonçalo, RJ, Brazil. marciokiuchi@gmail.com.|Department of Medicine, Sao Goncalo Hospital and Clinic, São Gonçalo, RJ, Brazil. marciokiuchi@gmail.com.|Electrophysiology Division, Department of Cardiology, Sao Goncalo Hospital and Clinic, São Gonçalo, RJ, Brazil. marciokiuchi@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Márcio Galindo
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Kiuchi
authors.affiliation: Electrophysiology Division, Department of Cardiology, Sao Goncalo Hospital and Clinic, São Gonçalo, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Bruno Rustum
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Andrea
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Surgery and Artificial Cardiac Stimulation, Sao Goncalo Hospital and Clinic, São Gonçalo, RJ, Brazil.|Department of Medicine, Sao Goncalo Hospital and Clinic, São Gonçalo, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Gustavo Ramalho
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.affiliation: Interventional Cardiology Section, Department of Cardiology, Sao Goncalo Hospital and Clinic, São Gonçalo, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Sandro Barros Pinto
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Coelho
authors.affiliation: Interventional Cardiology Section, Department of Cardiology, Sao Goncalo Hospital and Clinic, São Gonçalo, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Luis Marcelo Rodrigues
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Paz
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Shanghai First People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.|Department of Cardiology, Elisabethinen University Teaching Hospital Linz, Linz, Austria.
authors.forename: Shaojie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Surgery and Artificial Cardiac Stimulation, Sao Goncalo Hospital and Clinic, São Gonçalo, RJ, Brazil.|Department of Medicine, Sao Goncalo Hospital and Clinic, São Gonçalo, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Gladyston Luiz Lima
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Souto
mesh_terms: D006328:Cardiac Catheterization / Q000379:methods*; D004452:Echocardiography; D017079:Exercise Tolerance; D005221:Fatigue / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008946:Mitral Valve Stenosis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D009765:Obesity; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome