Prevelance of Pulmonary Atherosclerosis in Patients With Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension

Conjunctive: The aim of our study was to determine the prevalence of pulmonary atherosclerosis in patients with Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension (CTEPH) who underwent Pulmonary Endarterectomy (PEA). Methods: One hundred twenty-eight patients with CTEPH who underwent PEA included in our study. Pathologic examination performed to the excised chronic thromboembolic material for the presence of atherosclerosis. Results: Pathologic specimens of 65 patients (50.8%) displayed atherosclerosis in our study. There were no evident differences between the group with pulmonary atherosclerosis and group without pulmonary atherosclerosis regarding the prevalence of smoking, hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, high sensitive CRP (hsCRP) and the neutrophile-lymphocyte ratio (N/L ratio). Conclusions: Pulmonary atherosclerosis seems to be a common finding in patients with CTEPH. Based on this observation it might be suggested that pathophysiological association exists between venous thromboembolism and atherosclerosis. Keywords: Atherosclerosis; Pulmonary Endarterectomy; Chronic Thromboembolic; Venous Thrombosis Abbreviations: CTEPH: Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension; VTE: Venous thromboembolism; N/L ratio: Neutrophile-lymphocyte ratio