Riociguat therapy for pulmonary hypertension: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background Riociguat therapy has been recommended for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH), and it might have therapeutic significance for other types of pulmonary hypertension (PH). Our purpose was to evaluate the specific impact of riociguat on all types of PH. Methods We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing the safety and efficacy of riociguat treatment for PH through databases of the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science from inception to the present. Duplicate publications, studies with no full text, incomplete information or inability to extract data, animal experiments and reviews, and systematic reviews were excluded. The software RevMan 5.4 was used for data synthesis. Results There were 8 RCTs included in our study, involving 1,606 participants. For PAH and CTEPH patients, riociguat treatment extended 6-minute walk distance (6MWD) by 39.84 meters, decreased mean pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) by 4.20 mmHg, lowered pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) by 218.76 dynes/sec/cm-5, cut down right atrial pressure (RAP) by 0.9 mmHg, increased cardiac index (CI) by 0.49 L/min/m2, improved cardiac output (CO) by 0.89 L/min, reduced N-terminal pro-type B natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) by 436.21 pg/mL, and decreased adverse events and clinical worsening as compared with placebo. For other types of PH including PH due to left heart disease and PH due to lung disease, riociguat was reported as having improved CI by 0.42 L/min/m2 and CO was increased by 0.92 L/min compared with placebo. Other efficacy outcomes and safety outcomes did not attain statistical difference in other types of PH. Conclusions For PAH and CTEPH, riociguat treatment is safe and effective, but for other types of PH, it can only improve some hemodynamic parameters.