TY - JOUR T1 - Age should not be a barrier for pulmonary endarterectomy in carefully selected patients JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J DO - 10.1183/13993003.01804-2017 VL - 50 IS - 6 SP - 1701804 AU - Michael Newnham AU - Jules Hernández-Sánchez AU - John Dunning AU - Choo Ng AU - Steven Tsui AU - Katherine Bunclark AU - Karen Sheares AU - Dolores Taboada AU - Mark Toshner AU - Joanna Pepke-Zaba AU - David Jenkins AU - John Cannon Y1 - 2017/12/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/50/6/1701804.abstract N2 - Pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA) is the treatment of choice in operable chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) with excellent long-term outcomes [1]. It is a complex surgical procedure requiring cardiopulmonary bypass and removal of obstructive thromboembolic material during periods of deep hypothermic circulatory arrest [1]. We have observed an increase in the number of older CTEPH patients referred for consideration of PEA, which is consistent with other cardiothoracic surgeries. The UK population is ageing with a projected 3% increase in subjects aged >85 years in the next 20 years [2]. This may be mirrored by patients with CTEPH getting older, as the incidence of pulmonary embolism, which frequently precedes CTEPH, markedly increases with age [3, 4]. Furthermore, an epidemiological analysis by Gall et al. [5] has projected that the annual incidence of CTEPH will increase over the next 10 years. Therefore, the management of CTEPH in older patients is a pertinent topic for investigation.CTEPH patients over 80 years old undergoing pulmonary endarterectomy have similar outcomes to those under 80 years http://ow.ly/MlCj30guFPuThe authors wish to thank the National Pulmonary Hypertension Centres UK and Ireland for referring the patients that were considered for PEA. ER -