Effect of home oxygen therapy on prognosis of patients with chronic pulmonary disease associated with pulmonary hypertension

: We prospectively elucidated the effect of home oxygen therapy (HOT) on the prognosis of patients with chronic pulmonary disease associated with pulmonary hypertension. One hundred and twenty-seven patients with pulmonary hypertension (mean pulmonary arterial pressure > or = 20 Torr) participated in this study. Fifty-four patients had chronic pulmonary emphysema, 5 chronic bronchitis, 19 diffuse panbronchiolitis, 29 old tuberculosis, 8 pulmonary fibrosis, and 12 other diseases. Fifty-one patients died of respiratory failure. The survival curve of patients who received HOT was not different from that of patients who did not receive HOT, although FEV1 and PaO2, both prognostic factors, were significantly worse in the patients who received HOT than in the patients who did not receive HOT. In the patients with COPD, the survival rate of patients who received HOT was significantly higher than that of those who did not receive HOT. The mean survival time of the patients who received HOT was significantly longer than that of the patients who did not received HOT (1971 +/- 217 SEM days and 978 +/- 156 days, respectively). From these data, we conclude that HOT improves the survival of patients with chronic pulmonary disease, especially COPD, associated with pulmonary hypertension.