Evidence Hub

Tadalafil plus endothelin receptor antagonists in connective tissue disease-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension: A multicenter study on exercise capacity and cardiac outcomes

Qianwen Wu, Hua Ma, Dongyu Li, Huangshu Ye, Zhangdi Zhou, Ning Zhang, Yinsu Zhu, Ting Liu et al.

Rheumatology and Immunology Research, 2025

85 participants

Abstract

Abstract Background and Objectives Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a life-threatening condition that requires optimized medical therapy to maintain a low-risk profile. This study assessed the effects of initial PAH-specific combination therapy with tadalafil/sildenafil on clinical and functional outcomes in a real-world setting. Methods We conducted a multicenter retrospective study of 85 patients diagnosed with connective tissue disease-associated PAH (CTD-PAH) via right heart catheterization from 2009 to 2023. Data on treatment regimens and efficacy measures, including 6-min walk distance (6MWD), N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-pro BNP), soluble suppression of tumorigenicity 2 (sST2), World Health Organization (WHO) functional class, risk stratification, treat-to-target status and survival, were collected. Results Patients receiving initial combination therapy with endothelin receptor antagonists (ERAs) and phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors showed varied improvements. The tadalafil plus ERAs combination significantly reduced NT-pro BNP levels and improved risk status (P 0.05). Additionally, 1-year treat-to-target rates were higher in the tadalafil plus ERA group (73.5%) than in the sildenafil group (45.6%, P = 0.005). Conclusion These findings suggest that tadalafil combined with ERAs leads to better improvements in exercise capacity, functional class, and treatment goals compared to sildenafil-based regimens, offering valuable insights for optimizing…

Read the paper

Related studies

Go deeper in Evidence Hub

Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.

Open this study Sign up free