Suspected CTEPH Referral

Any patient with suspected CTEPH must be referred to an expert center for diagnosis, operability assessment, and treatment.¹ Due to the often rapid progression of the disease,² referral should be made immediately.

Referral centers provide care from a multidisciplinary team consisting of:

• A consultant cardiologist

• Respiratory medicine physicians

• Clinical nurse specialists

• Specialist radiologists

• In the case of pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA) centers, surgeons.

Ideally, patients will also have access to psychological and social work support. The guidelines define a referral center for pulmonary hypertension (PH) as a center that follows at least 50 patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) or CTEPH, and receives at least two new referrals with documented PAH or CTEPH per month.³

Generally, a patient should not be considered inoperable unless they have been evaluated at an expert center that has significant experience with the procedure1 and with good surgical and hemodynamic outcomes.