@article{discovery10084993,
           month = {October},
          volume = {21},
            note = {{\copyright} The Author(s). 2019 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/ 1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.},
            year = {2019},
           title = {Early treatment with ambrisentan of mildly elevated mean pulmonary arterial pressure associated with systemic sclerosis: a randomized, controlled, double-blind, parallel group study (EDITA study)},
         journal = {Arthritis Research and Therapy},
        keywords = {Ambrisentan, Borderline pulmonary hypertension, Exercise PH, Mildly elevated mPAP, Placebo-controlled, Treatment},
             url = {https://doi.org/10.1186/s13075-019-1981-0},
          author = {Pan, Z and Marra, AM and Benjamin, N and Eichstaedt, CA and Blank, N and Bossone, E and Cittadini, A and Coghlan, G and Denton, CP and Distler, O and Egenlauf, B and Fischer, C and Harutyunova, S and Xanthouli, P and Lorenz, H-M and Gr{\"u}nig, E},
            issn = {1478-6362},
        abstract = {OBJECTIVE: The objective of this randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel group, trial was to assess the effect of ambrisentan on mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and mildly elevated pulmonary hypertension (PH). METHODS: Thirty-eight SSc patients with mildly elevated mPAP at rest between 21 and 24 mmHg and/or {\ensuremath{>}} 30 mmHg during low-dose exercise were randomly assigned to treatment with either ambrisentan 5-10 mg/day or placebo. Right heart catheterization and further clinical parameters were assessed at baseline and after 6 months. The primary endpoint was the difference of mPAP change at rest between groups. RESULTS: After 6 months, the two groups did not differ in the primary endpoint (ambrisentan mPAP - 1 {$\pm$} 6.4 mmHg vs. placebo - 0.73 {$\pm$} 3.59 mmHg at rest, p = 0.884). However, three patients from the placebo group but none of the ambrisentan group progressed to SSc-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension. Furthermore, ambrisentan treatment showed significant improvements in the secondary endpoints cardiac index (CI) and pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) at rest (CI 0.36 {$\pm$} 0.66 l/min/m2 vs. - 0.31 {$\pm$} 0.71 l/min/m2, p = 0.010; PVR - 0.70 {$\pm$} 0.78 WU vs. 0.01 {$\pm$} 0.71 WU, p = 0.012) and during exercise (CI 0.7 {$\pm$} 0.81 l/min/m2 vs. - 0.45 {$\pm$} 1.36 l/min/m2, p = 0.015; PVR - 0.84 {$\pm$} 0.48 WU vs. - 0.0032 {$\pm$} 0.34 WU, p {\ensuremath{<}} 0.0001). CONCLUSION: This is the first randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study testing the effect of ambrisentan in patients with mildly elevated mPAP and/or exercise PH. The primary endpoint change in mPAP did only tendentially improve in the ambrisentan group, but the significant improvement of other hemodynamic parameters points to a possible benefit of ambrisentan and will be helpful to design future trials. TRIAL REGISTRATION: www.ClinicalTrials.gov, unique identifier NCT: NCT02290613 , registered 14th of November 2014.}
}