Flow rate variance of a fully implantable pump for the delivery of intravenous treprostinil in pulmonary arterial hypertension

Manuel J Richter; Satenik Harutyunova; Tom Bollmann; Simon Classen; Jan Fuge; Henning Gall; Felix Gerhardt; Hossein A Ghofrani; Hartmut Gunkel; Ekkehard Grünig; Michael Halank; Alexander Heine; Hans Klose; Tobias J Lange; Claus Neurohr; Kai Nickolaus; Christian F Opitz; Stephan Rosenkranz; Hans-Jürgen Seyfarth; Khodr Tello; Ralf Ewert; Karen M Olsson

doi:10.1177/2045894020910136

Flow rate variance of a fully implantable pump for the delivery of intravenous treprostinil in pulmonary arterial hypertension

Pulm Circ. 2020 Mar 13;10(1):2045894020910136. doi: 10.1177/2045894020910136. eCollection 2020 Jan-Mar.

Authors

Manuel J Richter^{1

2

3}, Satenik Harutyunova⁴, Tom Bollmann⁵, Simon Classen⁶, Jan Fuge^{3

7}, Henning Gall^{2

3}, Felix Gerhardt⁸, Hossein A Ghofrani^{1

2

3

9}, Hartmut Gunkel¹⁰, Ekkehard Grünig⁴, Michael Halank¹¹, Alexander Heine⁵, Hans Klose¹², Tobias J Lange¹³, Claus Neurohr¹⁴, Kai Nickolaus¹, Christian F Opitz¹⁵, Stephan Rosenkranz⁸, Hans-Jürgen Seyfarth¹⁶, Khodr Tello^{2

3}, Ralf Ewert⁵, Karen M Olsson^{3

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pneumology, Kerckhoff Heart, Rheuma and Thoracic Center, Bad Nauheim, Germany.
² Department of Internal Medicine, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Universities of Giessen and Marburg Lung Center (UGMLC), Giessen, Germany.
³ German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Giessen, Germany.
⁴ Center for Pulmonary Hypertension, Thorax Clinic at the University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
⁵ Department of Internal Medicine, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University, Greifswald, Germany.
⁶ Department of Vascular Surgery, Kerckhoff Heart, Rheuma and Thoracic Center, Bad Nauheim, Germany.
⁷ Department of Respiratory Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
⁸ Department III of Internal Medicine and Cologne Cardiovascular Research Center (CCRC), Cologne University Heart Center, Cologne, Germany.
⁹ Department of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK.
¹⁰ pro-samed GmbH, Berlin, Germany.
¹¹ Department of Internal Medicine I, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Dresden, Germany.
¹² Department of Pneumology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
¹³ Department of Internal Medicine II, Division of Pneumology, University Medical Center Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
¹⁴ Department for Pneumology and Respiratory Medicine, Robert-Bosch-Hospital, Gerlingen, Germany.
¹⁵ Department of Cardiology, DRK Kliniken Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
¹⁶ Department of Pneumology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.

Abstract

Implantable infusion pumps might improve the convenience and safety of intravenous treprostinil for pulmonary arterial hypertension. The LENUS Pro® pump (approved in Europe) has a fixed flow rate. Based on 126 pumps and 2853 refills, we retrospectively analyzed the actual flow rate from 09/2010 to 09/2018. A relevant flow rate variance is evident after three years; therefore, flow rate monitoring and dose adjustment are mandatory.

Keywords: implantable infusion pump; prostanoid; pulmonary hypertension; treatment.