
Corey E. Ventetuolo, MD, MS
Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Rhode Island Hospital
593 Eddy Street, APC 7
Providence, RI 02903
Corey E. Ventetuolo, MD, MS is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Health Services, Policy, and Practice at Brown University and Director of Academic Affairs for the Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Division at Brown. She is the Associate Director of the Rhode Island Hospital Pulmonary Hypertension Center and Medical Director of the Adult Extracorporeal Life Support Program. Her work focuses on sexual dimorphism in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and right ventricular function, hormonal modulation as a treatment strategy, and novel methods of endotyping patients with pulmonary vascular disease. She is also interested in improving quality of care for patients with pulmonary hypertension and those on extracorporeal life support. Dr. Ventetuolo is supported by the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health.
Female sex is the best established risk factor for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), implying estrogen has a harmful effect on the pulmonary vasculature. Although women are more likely to develop disease, right heart function (which determines prognosis) and survival appears to be better in women with PAH than in men. These paradoxical observations are as yet unexplained. We believe estrogen-mediated angiogenesis leads to changes in the pulmonary vascular bed but also increases in collateral blood flow in the right ventricle. The aim of this project are to correlate changes in angiogenesis markers (including endothelial progenitor cells and microparticles) with measures of pulmonary and right ventricular function during a normal menstrual cycle, which is characterized by fluctuation in estrogen, in PAH patients and in healthy women. We will study similar markers in post-menopausal women and capture hormonal exposures throughout a woman’s lifetime. Linking sex hormone pathways to angiogenesis and the right ventricle could open new avenues for research into the mechanisms of right heart failure, including promising new treatments that alter hormones in women (and men) with pulmonary vascular disease.
Ventetuolo CE, Mitra N, Wan F, Manichaikul A, Barr RG, Johnson C, Bluemke DA, Lima JAC, Tandri H, Ouyang P, Kawut SM. Oestradiol Metabolism and Androgen Receptor Genotypes are Associated with RV Function. Eur Respir J 2016 Feb;47(2):553-63. doi: 10.1183/13993003.01083-2015. Epub 2015 Dec 2 PMCID: PMC4831135
Ventetuolo CE, et al.. Higher Estradiol and Lower Dehydroepiandrosterone-Sulfate Levels Are Associated With Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in Men. Am J Respir Crit Care Med Dec 10, 2015 [Epub ahead of print] 2016 May 15;193(10):1168-75. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201509-1785OC. PMID: 26651504 PMCID: PMC4872665
Aliotta JM, Pereira M, Wen S, Dooner MS, Del Tatto M, Papa E, Goldberg LR, Baird GL, Ventetuolo CE, Quesenberry PJ, Klinger JR. Exosomes induce and reverse monocrotaline-induced pulmonary hypertension in mice. Cardiovasc Res. 2016 Jun 1;110(3):319-30. doi: 10.1093/cvr/cvw054. Epub 2016 Mar 14.PMCID: PMC4872677
Kawut SM, Archer-Chicko CL, DiMichele A, Fritz JS, Klinger JR, Ky B, Palevsky HI, Palmisciano AJ, Patel M, Pinder D, Propert K, Smith KA, Stanczyk F, Tracy R, Vaidya A, Whittenhall ME, Ventetuolo CE. Anastrozole in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (AIPH): A Randomized, Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Trial. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2016 Sep 7. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 27602993
Sex and haemodynamics in pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Ventetuolo CE, Praestgaard A, Palevsky HI, Klinger JR, Halpern SD, Kawut SM.
Eur Respir J. 2014 Feb;43(2):523-30. doi: 10.1183/09031936.00027613. Epub 2013 Aug 15.
PMID: 23949961 [PubMed – in process]
Endothelial microparticles in mild chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema. The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease study.
Thomashow MA, Shimbo D, Parikh MA, Hoffman EA, Vogel-Claussen J, Hueper K, Fu J, Liu CY, Bluemke DA, Ventetuolo CE, Doyle MF, Barr RG.
Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2013 Jul 1;188(1):60-8. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201209-1697OC.
PMID: 23600492 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]
The renin-angiotensin system and right ventricular structure and function: The MESA-Right Ventricle Study.
Ventetuolo CE, Lima JA, Barr RG, Bristow MR, Bagiella E, Chahal H, Kizer JR, Lederer DJ, Bluemke DA, Kawut SM.
Pulm Circ. 2012 Jul;2(3):379-86. doi: 10.4103/2045-8932.101657.
PMID: 23130107 [PubMed] Free PMC Article
Plasma endothelin-1 and vascular endothelial growth factor levels and their relationship to hemodynamics in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
Ventetuolo CE, Kawut SM, Lederer DJ.
Respiration. 2012;84(4):299-305. Epub 2012 Aug 3.
PMID: 22869459 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE] Free PMC Article
Related citations
Brachial artery diameter and the right ventricle: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis-right ventricle study.
Dibble CT, Shimbo D, Barr RG, Bagiella E, Chahal H, Ventetuolo CE, Herrington DM, Lima JA, Bluemke DA, Kawut SM.
Chest. 2012 Dec;142(6):1399-405. doi: 10.1378/chest.12-0028.
PMID: 22661452 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE] Free PMC Article
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor use is associated with right ventricular structure and function: the MESA-right ventricle study.
Ventetuolo CE, Barr RG, Bluemke DA, Jain A, Delaney JA, Hundley WG, Lima JA, Kawut SM.
PLoS One. 2012;7(2):e30480. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0030480. Epub 2012 Feb 17.
PMID: 22363441 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE] Free PMC Article
Related citations
Sex hormones are associated with right ventricular structure and function: The MESA-right ventricle study.
Ventetuolo CE, Ouyang P, Bluemke DA, Tandri H, Barr RG, Bagiella E, Cappola AR, Bristow MR, Johnson C, Kronmal RA, Kizer JR, Lima JA, Kawut SM.
Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2011 Mar 1;183(5):659-67. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201007-1027OC. Epub 2010 Oct 1.
PMID: 20889903 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE] Free PMC Article
James R. Klinger, MD
Department of Medicine
Rhode Island Hospital
Peter Quesenberry, MD
Department of Medicine
Rhode Island Hospital
- R01 HL134905 (Kawut-PI)
NIH NHLBI
Title: Anastrozole in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
01/01/2017-12/31/2021
Co-Investigator, Study Co-Chair - 1R01HL141268-01
NIH NHLBI
Title: Effects of DHEA in Pulmonary Hypertension (DiPH)
04/01/2018-03/31/2023
Primary Investigator
Ocean State Research Institute
Providence VA Medical Center
Building 35
830 Chalkstone Avenue
Providence RI 02908
T: 401-273-7100
Research Funded by
Research reported in this website was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Science of the National Institutes of Health under grant number P20GM103652.