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Query: UMLS:C0018801 (heart failure)
 72,216 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The treatment of congestive heart failure focuses on three steps: 1. Elimination of the precipitating cause or mechanism, and/or treatment of the underlying disease respectively. 2. Treatment of the failing heart syndrome itself. We shall concern ourselves with pharmacotherapy, omitting technical and surgical aspects. 3. Prophylactic treatment of complications, such as thromboembolism and arrhythmias. Drugs for the treatment of heart failure can be classified as follows: 1. Diuretics 2. Vasodilators 3. Neurohumoral Inhibitors 4. Inotropic drugs. Diuretics improve symptoms and exercise capacity and probably survival. They are the drug of first choice in acute and chronic heart failure. Potassium supplementation is necessary. Renal function needs to be monitored. The aldosterone antagonist spironolactone has probably important effects upon the myocardium. It retards fibrous tissue development and improves prognosis. Vasodilators unload the heart and improve contractile geometry and hemodynamics, thereby lessening symptoms. Prognosis, however, is not affected. They are indispensable in acute heart failure. In longterm treatment only the combination of nitrates with hydralazin has been shown to be effective. Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors combine vasodilation with neurohumoral inhibition. They are most effective in improving symptoms, exercise capacity and surviving chronic heart failure. If side effects (cough, allergy) prevent their use, then angiotensin II receptor antagonists can be used with equal benefit. However, both groups of drugs impair renal function and cannot be given in advanced renal failure or renal artery stenosis. Beta-receptor antagonists, previously considered contraindicated in heart failure are today amongst the most important drugs in heart failure. They improve survival and retard the need for cardiac transplantation in advanced failure. Their use, however, is rather difficult requiring extremely slow dose titration beginning with very low doses. Inotropic drugs are today mainly used in acute failure and cardiogenic shock. In longterm treatment only the digitalisglycosides have been shown to be effective in improving symptoms, exercise capacity and the general clinical course. Often antiarrhythmic treatment is necessary. Here amiodarone is the drug of choice today if beta blockers do not suffice. Prophylactic anticoagulation is indicated in all cases NYHA III and IV, with large hearts already in II. Future developments may include new inotropes, the ANP-system, and cytokines, as well as gene therapy for correction of myocardial phenotype change.
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PMID:[Therapy for heart failure]. 1085 91

Two independent pharmacologic methods of specifically interfering with the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system have been brought to the marketplace: angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs). These agents have the potential not only to be very widely used for a broad variety of clinical indications but also to compete against each other as treatments for hypertension, heart failure, renal impairment, and other conditions. Many short-term comparative studies of these two classes of drugs have now been completed. Most have focused on surrogate endpoints, such as blood pressure, renal function, or cough. These studies have generally concluded that ARBs are better tolerated but that the two drug classes otherwise have similar efficacy. The largest clinical trial comparing ARBs and ACE inhibitors thus far completed, Evaluation of Losartan in the Elderly (ELITE 2), failed to confirm the results of a smaller study; it did not demonstrate a significant improvement in outcomes (death or hospitalization for heart failure) with an ARB used alone, despite better tolerability. Many longer-term outcome studies with survival endpoints are under way, but most will compare the combination against an ACE inhibitor alone. These studies will define the optimal use of these agents in medicine for decades to come.
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PMID:Therapeutic trials comparing angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers. 1098 Nov 76

National and international societies have issued guidelines on the management of heart failure: The European Society of Cardiology, WHO, ACC/AHA Task Force Report, US Department of Health and Human Services, German Society of Cardiology. The therapeutic approaches to heart failure have undergone considerable changes during the last few years. The guidelines have to be updated almost yearly due to new results from prospective randomized studies. Although an agreement could be reached with respect to general measures and drug treatment, no agreement on mechanical devices, pacemakers and surgical interventions has been reached. The basis for medical treatment of chronic heart failure depends on diuretics, digitalis, ACE inhibitors, and beta-blockers. Calcium antagonists and other positive inotropic drugs, other than digitalis, should be avoided as far as possible. Thiazides, loop diuretics and aldosterone antagonists are needed for acute and chronic treatment of heart failure, alone or in combination (diuretic resistant heart failure!). Digitalis glycosides are needed in patients with atrial fibrillation with a fast ventricular rate or atrial flutter and in patients with systolic dysfunction, large hearts and symptomatic failure class NYHA III and IV. However, digitalis does not convert atrial fibrillation to sinus rhythm. Today there is no question that ACE inhibitors improve the prognosis of all patients with heart failure in all stages, if ejection fraction is reduced. Therefore, most patients after myocardial infarction or after having experienced pump failure due to myocarditis or cardiomyopathy are treated with ACE inhibitors and diuretics. The beneficial effects of ACE inhibitors seem to be most pronounced the worse the situation is. Relative risk reductions (mortality!) between 10% and 40% have been published depending on the severity of symptomatic left ventricular dysfunction. Those patients with high absolute risk have more to gain than those with low risk for any given "risk reduction", of course. Recent studies also indicate that most high risk cardiac patients profit from ACE inhibitors even if pump function is normal (i.e., patients with coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus, cerebral vascular disease, hypertension) (15). AT1 antagonists can substitute for ACE inhibitors, if the latter are not tolerated due to cough. Up to now, beta-blocking agents apart from diuretics seem to be the best investigated drugs in heart failure. Large controlled studies with bisoprolol, carvedilol and metoprolol in addition to diuretics, digitalis and ACE inhibitors convincingly yielded positive results in chronic left ventricular failure patients. Reduction of mortality by 35% and even of sudden cardiac deaths by 40% have been proven beyond doubt. Thus, heart failure patients today should also receive beta-blocking agents in all stages of the disease. In the era of controlled prospective studies (evidence-based medicine), physicians are well advised to use only drugs that have been proven beneficial in large controlled studies.
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PMID:The management of heart failure--an overview. 1119 49

The patient was a 74-year-old man, a physician, whose chief complaint was an unproductive cough. The shadow of a mass was seen at the hilum of the left lung, and the mediastinal lymph nodes on both sides were swollen. No histological diagnosis was obtained even after bronchoscopy, including transbronchial needle aspiration biopsy, but large-cell carcinoma of the lung was diagnosed on the basis of ultrasound-guided biopsy of a shadow in the liver suspected of being a metastatic tumor (T2N3M1, Stage IV). Two courses of chemotherapy (CBCDA + VDS) failed to gain any improvement, and the pain resulting from recurrent bone metastases was managed mainly by the administration of the best supportive care. The patient was readmitted to the hospital after development of numbness in the right upper extremity followed by complication of pneumonia and heart failure, and he passed away. Autopsy revealed a primary hilar lung tumor with a histological diagnosis of poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma.
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PMID:A case of poorly differentiated hilar lung adenocarcinoma of an unidentified histological type. 1119 85

The management of diabetic hypertension requires meticulous selection of agents in the antihypertension armamentorium. There may be several associated factors to be considered while treating a hypertensive diabetic. These include hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, proteinuria, left ventricular hypertrophy and heart failure to name a few. Losartan is the first of a new class of agents in the list of antihypertensive drugs. By its selective angiotension II receptor (subtype AT1) blocking action it is postulated to bring about a more complete inhibition of the renin-angiotensin system. Thus, it might produce all the benefits of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor therapy with the freedom from cough so commonly seen with the use of ACE inhibitors. This review attempts to analyze the possible benefits of losartan therapy in diabetes.
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PMID:Role of losartan therapy in the management of diabetic hypertension. 1127 47

The limitations of angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and the role of angiotensin II-receptor blockers (ARBs) in the treatment of hypertension, heart failure, and diabetic nephropathy are discussed. Although ACE inhibitors are generally well tolerated, two important class-related adverse effects are cough, which is common, and angioedema, which is rare but serious. Cough and angioedema appear to be less frequent with ARBs than with ACE inhibitors. ARBs seem to be as capable as ACE inhibitors of producing renal dysfunction. ARBs may offer more complete inhibition of angiotensin II than ACE inhibitors. The mechanism of action is based on selective binding to angiotensin type 1 receptors. Many clinical studies have shown that ARBs lower blood pressure as effectively as other antihypertensive agents, including ACE inhibitors. ARBs do not appear to have a greater clinical effect than ACE inhibitors in patients with heart failure. Some studies of combination ARB and ACE inhibitor therapy for heart failure indicate advantages of the combination over therapy with either class. ARBs may exert renal protective effects in diabetic nephropathy. ARBs offer an alternative to ACE inhibitors in the management of hypertension, especially for ACE-inhibitor-intolerant patients. ACE inhibitors remain the drugs of choice for patients with heart failure, left ventricular dysfunction after MI, and diabetic nephropathy; ARBs offer these patients an alternative when ACE inhibitor therapy is not tolerated.
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PMID:Angiotensin II-receptor blockers: clinical relevance and therapeutic role. 1132 59

Approximately 25% of US adults have high blood pressure (BP). Selection of effective and safe antihypertensive therapy for these individuals is an important health-care priority. High BP can be treated with a wide range of antihypertensive agents from a number of different classes. These drugs may differ in their suitability for administration to different subpopulations of patients. Results from both clinical trials and postmarketing surveillance indicate that the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor perindopril erbumine is safe and well tolerated in a wide range of patients with hypertension. Cough, the most common ACE inhibitor-associated side effect, is also the most common clinical adverse event reported for perindopril, but <2% of perindopril-treated patients discontinue therapy because of cough. Other adverse events often associated with ACE inhibitors, first-dose hypotension and hyperkalemia, appear to occur less often with perindopril than with other agents in this class. The favorable safety profile for perindopril extends to a wide range of patients, including the elderly and those with either heart failure or renal disease. Perindopril has no negative effects on lipids in patients with hyperlipidemia or on glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, and it reduces proteinuria in patients with renal disease. Perindopril has no known clinically significant drug-drug interactions. Thus, perindopril is a safe BP-lowering agent with documented tolerability in a wide range of patients with hypertension.
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PMID:Safety profile of perindopril. 1159 59

Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) inhibitors represent a major advance in the treatment of: hypertension, and generally speaking, in cardiovascular prevention; myocardial infarction; cardiac failure. They have a cardio and vascular protective action by tending to correct hypertension, left ventricular hypertrophy and remodelling, endothelial dysfunction, arterial smooth muscle proliferation and thrombotic phenomena. However, besides the cough that this therapeutic class engenders, a major question remains unanswered: is there resistance to this family of drugs? In other words, does left ventricular remodelling and arterial smooth muscle proliferation continue with regular treatment at the prescribed dosages? The synthesis of angiotensin II does not only depend on the angiotensin converting enzyme but also on the quality of angiotensin I and the presence of other enzymes such as chymase. A secondary increase of angiotensin II with ACE inhibitor therapy may reflect insufficient blockade of the renin-angiotensin system or a synthesis of angiotensin II by an alternative pathway to the converting enzyme. In vivo measurement of ACE inhibition shows that blockade of the renin-angiotensin system is automatically limited due to the very accurate regulation of angiotensin II concentrations.
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PMID:[Resistance to ACE inhibitors. Myth or reality?]. 1160 63

Incidence of pericarditis has increased in sub-Saharan Africa, because of the HIV infection pandemia. We have done a retrospective study in the cardiology unit of the national hospital of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), in order to describe epidemiological, clinical, and therapeutic aspects of pericarditis occurring in HIV infected patients. Inclusion criteria were pericarditis proved by echography, and positive HIV serology. We have included forty patients (28 men and 12 women), mean aged of 34.45 years. General signs were fever (87.5%), and weight loss (70%). Thirty-six patients (90%) were in CDC stage C AIDS classification, three (7.5%) in stage B, and one (2.5%) in stage A. The symptoms described by the patients were dyspnea (92.5%), cough 77.5%), chest pain (65%), liver effort pain (27.5%), and palpitations (20%). Heart failure was present in 80% of the patients who had myocarditis. Pericardial effusion was small in 21%, moderate in 31,6%, and large in 47.4% of the patients. Tamponade occurred in for cases (10%). The etiology was tuberculosis in 75% of cases. Pericardial puncture (done in six patients) showed purulent fluid in two cases. Before hospital discharge, eight patients died, giving a mortality rate of 20%. Symptomatic pericardial involvement is frequently associated with stage C of HIV infection. Myocarditis is often associated (37.5%). Mortality rate is high.
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PMID:[Pericarditis in HIV infected patients: retrospective study of 40 cases in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso]. 1164 Oct 80

Vasopeptidase inhibitors are a new class of cardiovascular drug that simultaneously inhibit both neutral endopeptidase and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE). They increase the availability of peptides that have vasodilatory and other vascular effects; they also inhibit production of angiotensin II. In animal models vasopeptidase inhibitors decrease blood pressure in low, medium, and high renin forms of hypertension, and they also appear to confer benefits in models of heart failure and ischaemic heart disease. Studies in human hypertension show that these agents are effective in decreasing blood pressure regardless of race or age. Experience with omapatrilat, the most clinically advanced of these drugs, has shown it to be more effective than currently available ACE inhibitors or other widely used antihypertensive agents. Studies with omapatrilat in congestive heart failure have shown beneficial effects on haemodynamics and symptoms. The vasopeptidase inhibitors appear to have safety profiles similar to ACE inhibitors, though the frequency of side-effects such as angio-oedema and cough remains to be established. Large trials with clinical endpoints, some already in progress, are needed to establish the place of this class of drug beside that of established therapies in conditions such as hypertension, heart failure, ischaemic heart disease, and nephropathy.
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PMID:Vasopeptidase inhibitors. 1194 97


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