Treatment with the selective ET(A) receptor antagonist sitaxsentan, orally once daily at a dose of 100 mg, improves exercise capacity and WHO FC in PAH patients, with a low incidence of hepatic toxicity.

In adult lung transplant recipients who have received 3 months of valganciclovir, extending prophylaxis by an additional 9 months significantly reduces CMV infection, disease, and disease severity without increased ganciclovir resistance or toxicity. A beneficial effect with regard to prevention of CMV disease seems to extend at least through 18 months after transplantation.

Background Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can cause severe lower respiratory tract infection (LRI) and is a risk factor for the development of bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) after lung transplantation (LTx). Currently, the most widely used therapy for RSV is inhaled ribavirin. However, this therapy is costly and cumbersome. We investigated the utility of using oral ribavirin for the treatment of RSV infection after LTx. Methods RSV was identified in nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS) or bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) using direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) in 5 symptomatic LTx patients diagnosed with LRI. Data were collected from December 2005 and August 2007 and included: age; gender; type of LTx; underlying disease; date of RSV; pulmonary function prior to, during and up to 565 days post-RSV infection; need for mechanical ventilation; concurrent infections; and radiographic features. Patients received oral ribavirin for 10 days with solumedrol (10 to 15 mg/kg/day intravenously) for 3 days, until repeat NPS were negative. Results Five patients had their RSV–LRI diagnosis made at a median of 300 days post-LTx. Mean forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) fell 21% (p < 0.012) during infection. After treatment, FEV1 returned to baseline and was maintained at follow-up of 565 days. There were no complications and no deaths with oral therapy. A 10-day course of oral ribavirin cost $700 compared with $14,000 for nebulized ribavirin at 6 g/day. Conclusions Treatment of RSV after LTx with oral ribavirin and corticosteroids is well tolerated, effective and less costly than inhaled ribavirin. Further studies are needed to directly compare the long-term efficacy of oral vs nebulized therapy for RSV.

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Background Single-lung transplantation (SLT) and bilateral lung transplantation (BLT) are both good options for patients with end-stage lung disease secondary to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. It is, however, unclear whether BLT offers any survival advantage over SLT. The purpose of our study was to evaluate a large group of patients to determine if either SLT or BLT officered a long-term survival advantage for patients with IPF. Methods This was an Institutional Review Board-approved retrospective analysis of the United Network of Organ Sharing database from 1987 to 2008. Survival was determined using Kaplan-Meir estimates and the effect of laterality was determined by Cox proportional hazards and propensity analyses. Results Lung transplantation for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis was performed in 3,860 patients (2,431 SLTs and 1429 BLTs). Multivariate and propensity analysis failed to show any survival advantage for BLT (hazard ratio = 0.90, 95% confidence interval = 0.78 to 1.0, p = 0.11). One-year conditional survival favored BLT (hazard ratio 0.73, 95% confidence interval 0.60 to 0.87, p = 0.00064). Risk factors for early death included recipient age over 57 and donor age over 36 years. Conclusions Bilateral lung transplantation should be considered for younger patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and results may be optimized when younger donors are used.