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Prostacyclins

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Pharmacotherapy of Pulmonary Hypertension

Part of the book series: Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology ((HEP,volume 218))

Abstract

Prostacyclins have a favourable pharmacological profile for treatment of pulmonary hypertension as they possess vasodilative, antiproliferative, antiaggregatory, and anti-inflammatory properties that may compensate the main pathologic changes in the small pulmonary arteries. In severe pulmonary hypertension these vessels show a deficit in the endogenous prostacyclin secretion. The therapeutic potential of prostacyclin for pulmonary hypertension has been known since 30 years, and since nearly 20 years prostacyclin has been approved for idiopathic PAH. There are intravenous, subcutaneous, and inhaled approaches of different substances who share many but not all pharmacologic properties. However, none of these approaches are easy and free of adverse effects. Long-term experience and careful decision-making are instrumental to achieve favourable clinical long-term results.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Pulmonology, Department of Internal Medicine, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    Horst Olschewski

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  1. Horst Olschewski
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Correspondence to Horst Olschewski .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculte´ de Me´decine, Univ Paris-Sud, Le Kremlin Bicêtre, France

    Marc Humbert

  2. Dep of Anasthesia and Critical Care, Harvard Medical School Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Oleg V. Evgenov

  3. Cardiovascular Research, Bayer Pharma AG, Wuppertal, Germany

    Johannes-Peter Stasch

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Olschewski, H. (2013). Prostacyclins. In: Humbert, M., Evgenov, O., Stasch, JP. (eds) Pharmacotherapy of Pulmonary Hypertension. Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, vol 218. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38664-0_8

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