A Network Meta-Analysis of Vasodilator Therapies in Pulmonary Hypertension Patients Undergoing Mitral Valve Replacement Surgery: Insights for Optimizing Hemodynamics

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a progressive hemodynamic condition associated with significant morbidity and mortality, especially in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Therefore, the objective of this network meta-analysis (NMA) is to compare the efficacy of various pulmonary vasodilators in perioperative control of PH among patients undergoing mitral valve replacement surgery (MVRS), aiming to address the existing knowledge gap and improve perioperative outcomes.

Electronic databases including PubMed, Cochrane Central Registry of Controlled Trials, Scopus, Embase, and Web of Science (WOS) from inception to 17 September 2024. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating vasodilators in PH patients undergoing MVRS were included. We used netmeta package in RStudio to analyze the outcome data with their corresponding mean difference (MD) and confidence intervals (CI).

Seventeen RCTs including 862 patients were analyzed. Prostacyclin, nitric oxide (NO), and sodium nitroprusside (SN) significantly reduced mean pulmonary arterial pressure with effect sizes [MD, 95% confidence interval (CI)] of (11.77, − 18.78; − 4.76; − 8.3, − 15.9; − 0.6; − 11.02, − 20.1; − 3.8, respectively). While no treatment showed significant efficacy on pulmonary capillary wedge pressure, systolic pulmonary arterial pressure, or heart rate, nitroglycerin, NO, and prostacyclin, showed significant increases in cardiac index with effect sizes (MD, 95% CI) of (1, 0.3; 1.7; 1.2 0.8; 1.6; 1.2 0.8; 1.6, respectively). Additionally, NO, prostacyclin, SN, and nitroglycerin demonstrated significant reductions in systemic vascular resistance (SVR), with effect sizes of. (− 0.54, − 0.82; − 0.26, − 0.37, − 0.65; − 0.09; − 0.47, − 0.77; − 0.16; − 0.14, − 0.24; − 0.03, respectively).

This NMA highlights prostacyclin, nitroglycerin, NO, and SN as consistently effective in improving hemodynamics for patients with PH undergoing MVRS, and provides valuable insights for surgeons to choose the suitable vasodilator for these surgeries. However, limitations and the need for further RCTs are acknowledged.