Department / Division:
Medicine / Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine

Address:
DUMC 31175
Durham, NC 27710

Appointment Telephone:
919-668-7630

Office Telephone:
919-684-6237

Fax Telephone:
919-681-7502

• MD, Hahnemann (Drexel University College of Medicine, Pennsylvania), 1982

• Internal Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, 1983-1986
• Pulmonary Medicine, Boston University, Boston City Hospital (Massachusetts), 1986-1989

Clinical Interests:
Evaluation for pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary thromboembolic disease, COPD

Research Interests:
General focus:
Both clinical research and patient care involves venous thromboembolic disease, and endstage lung disease.  The latter population includes primary and secondary pulmonary hypertension, severe emphysema (lung volume reduction surgery candidates) and all patients evaluated for lung transplantation.  Lung transplant clinical research focuses more heavily on the posttransplant setting.  Dr. Tapson is collaborating with basic science laboratories but not conducting basic research himself.

Specific research approaches:
The approaches utilized are single or multicenter clinical trials involving prevention and treatment of venous thromboembolism, diagnostic approaches to deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, pharmacologic therapy for pulmonary hypertension, and immunosuppressive and antiinfective therapy for lung transplant patients.  Dr. Tapson has collaborated extensively with radiology in evaluating patients with venous thromboembolic disease and after lung transplantation, particularly with regard to evolving technology such as spiral computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging.  Goals include establishing database for lung transplant and pulmonary hypertension patients (in progress), and continuing outcomes research.

Areas of expertise/national recognition:
These include venous thromboembolism, lung transplantation, and pulmonary hypertension (see committees).  Dr. Tapson currently serves as on both the American Thoracic Society and American College of Chest Physicians consensus panels for venous thromboembolism, and has published a book on this topic.  He has been invited to write a number of reviews on this topic and is completing a book chapter on pulmonary embolism for the Cecil Textbook of Medicine.  He was invited to Edinborough, Scotland last year to give the Sydney Watson Smith Memorial Lecture for the Royal College of Physicians (New Diagnostic and Therapeutic Modalities for Venous Thromboembolism).  He will chair two sessions on this topic at the American Thoracic Society Meeting in Chicago this year.

Key words:
Venous thromboembolism Low molecular weight heparin
Pulmonary embolism Lung transplantation
Deep venous thrombosis Immunosuppressive therapy
Magnetic resonance imaging Lung volume reduction surgery

Representative Publications:
Tapson VF. Venous Thromboembolism. In: Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine. E Topol (ed.) Lippincott and Raven, Philadelphia, 1998. (1998)

Tapson VF and Restrepo C. Pulmonary Hypertension and Cor Pulmonale. In: Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine. E Topol (ed.) Lippincott and Raven, Philadelphia, 1998. (1998)

Tapson VF. Pulmonary embolism: New diagnostic technology. N Engl J Med 1997;336:1449-51. (1997)

Van Trigt P, Davis RD, Shaeffer GS, Gaynor JW, Landolfo KP, Higginbotham MB and Tapson VF. Survival benefits of heart and lung transplantation. Ann Surg 1996;223:576-84. (1996)

Murray JG, McAdams P, Erasmus JJ, Patz EF and Tapson VF. Complications of lung transplantation: radiologic findings. AJR 1996;166:1405-11. (1996)

Baz MA, Layish DT, Govert JA, Howell D, Lawrence CM, Davis RD and Tapson VF. Diagnostic yield of bronchoscopies after isolated lung transplantation. Chest 1996;110:84-8. (1996)

Barst RJ, Rubin LJ, Long WA, McGoon MD, Rich S. Badesch DB, Groves BM, Tapson VF, et al. Continuous intravenous prostacyclin versus conventional therapy in primary pulmonary hypertension: results of a 12-week randomized trial in 81 patients. N Engl J Med 1996;334:296-301. (1996)