Temple Researchers Show that Anatomic Compression of Iliac Vein Major Factor in Pulmonary Vascular Disease

News-Medical covered new research by a Temple team that included Riyaz Bashir, MD, FACC, RVT, Professor of Medicine at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University and Director of Vascular and Endovascular Medicine at Temple University Hospital; Paul Forfia, MD, Professor of Medicine at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine and Co-Director of Temple’s Pulmonary Hypertension, Right Heart Failure, and CTEPH Program; Anjali Vaidya, MD, FACC, FASE, FACP, Associate Professor of Medicine at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine and Co-Director of Temple’s Pulmonary Hypertension, Right Heart Failure, and CTEPH Program; and colleagues. The team found that an anatomical variant known as May-Thurner anatomy (MTA), which can cause compression of the iliac vein in the pelvis (a risk factor for deep vein thrombosis) is very common in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). In a sample of 148 patients referred to Temple’s CTEPH program since 2016, nearly 30 percent were found to have MTA. The research was published by JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions.