Estimate the effect of chronic beta-adrenergic receptor blockade with carvedilol on RV function in patients with PAH. Assess the safety and tolerability of chronic carvedilol therapy in patients with PAH
This is a prospective, open label, uncontrolled, pilot study examining the safety and efficacy of beta-blocker therapy with carvedilol on RV function in stable PAH Patients with World Health Organization (WHO) functional class II or III symptoms and RV ejection fraction (EF) \< 40%. Twenty-five evaluable patients will be enrolled at the University of Minnesota. Specific Aims: 1.1 Primary Efficacy Endpoint: Adult males and females on a stable dose of an approved PAH medication will undergo cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), right heart catheterization (RHC), echocardiogram, 6-minute walk test (6-MWT), measurement of plasma NT-ProBNP and serum catecholamine, and quality of life assessment. Patients will receive carvedilol (3.25 mg/kg bid escalating to 25 mg/kg bid over 3 months). Testing is repeated at the end of the study (month 6). RVEF measured by cardiac MRI is the primary efficacy endpoint. We define a 5% increase in RVEF as a meaningful change.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
5
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Mean change in RVEF
1\. The primary efficacy outcome is the mean change in RVEF as measured by cardiac MRI before and after 6 months of carvedilol treatment. An improvement of 5% will be considered to be clinically significant. Assessment of the RV is challenging due to its complex geometry. Cardiac MRI offers the ability to acquire 3-dimensional datasets that do not require geometric modeling. In addition to being highly reproducible40, RVEF measured by cardiac MRI can be used to identify PAH patients that are likely to have clinical worsening41. The prognostic ability of cardiac MRI-measurements of RVEF is similar to that as mean pulmonary artery pressure and exercise capacity
Time frame: Baseline and 6 months
Absence of Adverse Events
The primary safety outcome is the absence of adverse events associated with carvedilol including hypotension (\<90 mm Hg), bradycardia (\<50 bpm or advanced atrioventricular nodal block), bronchospam, or acute decompensated right heart failure requiring hospitalization.
Time frame: 6 months
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