Giant pulmonary artery aneurysm caused by sibutramine-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension: First case in the literature

Abstract

Pulmonary arterial aneurysm (PAA) is a rare and possibly life-threatening abnormality of the pulmonary vasculature. Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is an important cause of PAA (1). Anorectic agents, such as aminorex, fenfluramine, and benfluorex, have been associated with PAH (2). Unlike those medications, sibutramine has been well tolerated and widely used as an appetite suppressant until it was withdrawn from the market in 2010 owing to its cardiovascular side effects (3). In this report, we present the first case of a patient with sibutramine-associated PAH complicated with massive PAA.