Patients with an atrial septal defect (ASD) and severe pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) are considered ineligible for defect closure surgery because of the risk of right ventricular decompensation and death after the operation. We report the case of a patient with large ASD and severe PAH who was able to undergo defect closure surgery successfully following long-term use of combined oral s...

Background—Beraprost sodium (BPS) is a new stable, orally active prostaglandin I2 analogue with antiplatelet and vasodilating properties. We report the results of a phase III clinical trial of BPS in patients with intermittent claudication. Methods and Results—Patients (n5549) with a pain-free walking distance of between 50 and 300 m were entered into a 4-week single-blind placebo run-in phase....

Matsumoto, Tetsuya, Atsuyuki Wada, Takayoshi Tsutamoto, Tomoko Omura, Hiroshi Yokohama, Masato Ohnishi, Ichiro Nakae, Masayuki Takahashi, and Masahiko Kinoshita. Vasorelaxing effects of atrial and brain natriuretic peptides on coronary circulation in heart failure. Am. J. Physiol. 276 (Heart Circ. Physiol. 45): H1935–H1942, 1999.—Natriuretic peptide (NP) receptor has been postulated to be downr...

OBJECTIVE This study was designed to compare the effects of prostacyclin synthase (PCS) gene transfer with those of a systemic infusion of beraprost sodium (BPS), a prostacyclin analogue, on vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation and neointimal formation after arterial injury. METHODS PCS gene (3 or 30 micrograms) was transfected into rat balloon-injured carotid arteries by a non-vi...

Natriuretic peptide (NP) receptor has been postulated to be downregulated under a high concentration of atrial NP (ANP) in congestive heart failure (CHF), but limited information is available on how the vascular functional responsiveness to NPs is altered in coronary circulation during CHF. We assessed the relaxant effects of ANP, brain NP (BNP), and other vasodilators in isolated coronary arte...

Beraprost sodium (BPS), an orally active prostacyclin analogue, has been reported to be beneficial in the treatment of primary pulmonary hypertension and obstructive peripheral arterial disease. Although BPS was originally described for its effects on platelet aggregation and vasodilatory response, the effect on endothelial cells has been poorly understood. In this study, we examined the effect...

Objective. To investigate the effect of beraprost sodium (BPS) on diabetic cardiomyopathy and the underlying mechanism. Methods. A total of 40 Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into the normal control group (N = 10) and the model group (N = 30). The model group was fed a high-fat diet followed by a one-time dose of streptozotocin (STZ) to establish the diabetes mellitus model. After tha...

BACKGROUND Inhibition of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) has been used to treat diabetic nephropathy. However, RAS inhibition increases the risk of renal complications. In this study, we evaluated the effect of combining RAS inhibitor treatment with beraprost sodium (BPS), a prostaglandin I2 analog, in diabetic nephropathy with arteriosclerosis obliterans. METHODS This study was a prospect...

A 68-year-old female who had Raynaud phenomenon for a decade was admitted to our hospital in January 2012. She complained of sclerodactyly and scleroderma that did not extend past the elbows. She also had fingertip ulcers that repeatedly disappeared and recurred for several years. Blood tests showed that she was anti-centromere antibody positive. Therefore, she was diagnosed with limited cutane...