Acute Reversibility of Pulmonary Hypertension Predicts Neither Long-Term Hemodynamic Response Nor Outcome in Patients Awaiting Heart Transplantation

For transplant wait-list patients with end-stage congestive heart failure, reversibility of pulmonary hypertension tested with acute administration of vasodilators is a prerequisite to listing for transplantation. We have shown that the magnitude of the initial pulmonary vasodilatory response to nitroprusside predicts neither the extent of the long-term hemodynamic response nor the subsequent need for transplantation versus clinical improvement and removal from transplant consideration.