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

Diuretics, together with digitalis glycosides and vasodilators are of prime importance in the medical treatment of patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). Diuretics provide quick symptomatic relief in these patients. Their beneficial effect is related to the promotion of sodium and water excretion via the kidney, thus reducing extracellular fluid volume expansion and mitigating the increase in preload and afterload caused by sodium and water retention. Loop diuretics administered intravenously are indispensable in the management of pulmonary oedema; thiazides and loop diuretics in low doses are effectively used in the oral treatment of mild to moderate heart failure. Torasemide is a new loop diuretic which differs from furosemide (frusemide) and related loop diuretics by virtue of its longer elimination half-life and longer duration of action, with almost complete bioavailability. The efficacy and tolerability of torasemide have been compared with furosemide in several studies. Once daily oral administration of torasemide (starting with 5mg) or furosemide 40mg reduce bodyweight, oedema and symptoms of heart failure to a similar extent. Mean New York Heart Association class is consistently reduced by 0.5 to 0.7. Intravenous administration attenuates the increase in intracardiac pressures during exercise in patients with CHF, and produces acute improvements in cardiac haemodynamics in patients with high grade left heart failure. A beneficial effect on both pulmonary and cardiac haemodynamics has been demonstrated during chronic oral treatment of patients with previously untreated CHF. Torasemide was well tolerated with only mild and transient adverse effects reported in a small number of patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Acute and long term effects of loop diuretics in heart failure. 171 15

The diuretic effects of torasemide and of furosemide were compared in a double blind cross-over study in 13 patients with stable chronic heart failure. Single doses of 10 mg and 20 mg of torasemide and of 40 mg of furosemide were given orally, in a randomized order on 3 consecutive days. In addition, a placebo was administered on the day preceding the 3 active drug treatment days to obtain control data. Each experimental day was divided into three urine collection periods - 0 to 4 h, 4 to 12 h and 12 to 24 h. Urine output, ion excretion and clearance were measured during each of the 3 periods as well as for the 24-h period. Torasemide 20 mg was distinctly more active in each of the 3 collection periods and in the 24-h period than furosemide 40 mg, whereas no significant difference was found between furosemide 40 mg and torasemide 10 mg for most of the experimental data. From 0 to 4 h, both torasemide and furosemide significantly increased the urinary flow rate and the urinary excretion of sodium, chloride and calcium, while they decreased the urinary osmolality when compared to placebo. All the effects persisted in the 4 to 12 h period after torasemide 20 mg in contrast to furosemide, whose effects were limited to the 0 to 4 h period. In the third period (12-24 h), the urine volume fell below the placebo value after furosemide but not torasemide, and only torasemide 20 mg was followed by a persistent decrease in the urine osmolality.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Diuretic activity of torasemide and furosemide in chronic heart failure: a comparative double blind cross-over study. 378 Aug 38

Torasemide 60 mg and furosemide 120 mg were administered intravenously in a randomized double blind study in twelve patients with acute heart failure. The action of both drugs on urinary electrolyte and water excretion was very similar. The administration of torasemide but not of furosemide resulted in a significant reduction of systolic and diastolic blood pressure. No side effects occurred with either of the drugs in this elderly patient group.
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PMID:Clinical efficacy of torasemide, a new diuretic agent, in patients with acute heart failure: a double blind comparison with furosemide. 676 67

The pharmacokinetic profile and pharmacodynamic activities of torasemide, a new pyridine sulfonylurea acting on the loop of Henle, are described. Absorption of the drug was unchanged in patients with congestive heart failure, though maximum concentrations occurred at 1.7 h compared with 0.9 h in healthy subjects. The volume of distribution after oral administration was also unchanged in patients with heart failure, but oral clearance was reduced by 50%, consistent with the increase in elimination half-life; renal clearance and maximum urinary torasemide excretion rate were also reduced by 50%. Thus, the primary pharmacokinetic alteration in patients with heart failure compared with healthy subjects was a reduction in the rate of delivery of torasemide to its site of action in the loop of Henle. Fractional sodium excretion and urinary torasemide excretion rate were similar in patients with heart failure and healthy subjects, though the relationship between the excretion rates of sodium and torasemide was depressed in the patients with heart failure. Thus, the primary pharmacodynamic alteration in patients with heart failure compared with healthy subjects was less total sodium excretion per molecule of torasemide reaching the renal tubule. Torasemide was effective in inducing loss of body weight and increased sodium excretion in patients with congestive heart failure. Single intravenous and oral doses of 20 mg both produced similar significant increases in total sodium excretion. Torasemide, 5-20 mg once daily for up to 6 weeks, produced significant loss of body weight and increased total sodium excretion confirming the diuretic effectiveness of torasemide in patients with congestive heart failure.
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PMID:Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of torasemide in congestive heart failure. 795 32

In a double-blind dose-response study, 49 patients with New York Heart Association functional class III or IV heart failure were randomized to receive a single intravenous dose of 5, 10, or 20 mg torsemide or 40 mg furosemide. Torsemide produced dose-related decreases in body weight and increases in sodium and chloride excretion and urine volume. With the 20 mg dose of torsemide and the 40 mg dose of furosemide, body weight decreased significantly relative to baseline, and total and fractional 24-hour urinary excretion of sodium, chloride, and potassium and urine volume increased significantly. The 10 mg torsemide dose also produced a significant increase in urine volume. The results indicate that intravenous torsemide is effective for the acute treatment of sodium and fluid retention resulting from moderate to severe congestive heart failure.
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PMID:Dose-response study of intravenous torsemide in congestive heart failure. 803 3

Loop diuretics potently excrete water and electrolytes and therefore have been widely prescribed for the treatment of various kinds of edema for a long time. The potent diuretic action of loop diuretics, however, often causes hypokalemia, and therefore potassium sparing diuretics have also been supplied as a concomitant drug. Torasemide (LUPRAC), a novel diuretics, shows not only an effective loop diuretic action but also a potassium sparing action due to its anti-aldosteronergic effect. Torasemide also has a high bioavailability and is only slightly influenced by meals in humans. In addition, its pharmacodynamic features contribute to its stable diuretic action without any individual differences. In animal experiments, torasemide showed about a tenfold more potent diuretic action in comparison with furosemide, an authentic loop diuretic. On the one hand, the increase in the urinary potassium excretion by torasemide was relatively slight compared to the increase in urinary sodium excretion and, as a result, the urinary sodium to potassium (Na+/K+) ratio increased. The diuretic profile of torasemide was equal to that of the concomitant use of furosemide and an anti-aldosteronergic drug, spironolactone. Torasemide showed a significant efficacy and safety in comparison with furosemide in the patients with edema in both domestic and foreign clinical studies. Moreover, torasemide also showed a decreased rate of cardiac death in comparison to furosemide in patients with chronic heart failure in a large-scale clinical study (TORIC Study). The difference in cardiac death between these two diuretics has been suggested to depend on the anti-aldosteronergic effect of torasemide. In Japan, no new loop diuretics have been developed in over 10 years. Torasemide is therefore expected to be useful as an effective diuretic for diseases with edema.
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PMID:[Torasemide (LUPRAC): a review of its pharmacological and clinical profile]. 1153 Jun 85

It has been reported that torasemide but not furosemide, may block the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system and therefore it might attenuate myocardial remodeling accompanied by left ventricular (LV) dysfunction. We therefore compared the therapeutic effects of torasemide, a long-acting loop diuretic, and furosemide, a short-acting one, on the progression of LV remodeling in a rat model of chronic heart failure (CHF) after experimental autoimmune myocarditis (EAM). CHF was elicited in Lewis rats by immunization with porcine cardiac myosin. Twenty-eight days after immunization, rats were treated for 28 days with torasemide, furosemide, or vehicle. We investigated the effects on metabolic and neurohumoral parameters, cardiac fibrosis and remodeling in EAM rats. Diuresis was increased dose dependently by both torasemide and furosemide, showed an equipotent natriuretic effect. The urinary potassium excretion was significantly increased with furosemide in comparison to torasemide. Myocardial functional parameters were significantly improved by torasemide. Conversely, these parameters did not change in rats receiving furosemide. Torasemide suppressed LV fibrosis, myocardial protein levels of transforming growth factor-beta1, collagen III, and aldosterone synthase and improved survival rate to the control level, but furosemide did not. Moreover, both pharmacological interventions significantly elevated plasma angiotensin II and decreased atrial natriuretic peptide in a dose-dependent manner. Our results demonstrate that compared with furosemide, torasemide treatment significantly improved survival rate, LV function and ameliorated the progression of cardiac remodeling in rats with CHF after EAM.
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PMID:Comparative effects of torasemide and furosemide in rats with heart failure. 1800 96

Torasemide is a long-acting loop diuretic that combines the effects of both furosemide and spironolactone. It has been reported that torasemide may block the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system and therefore it might attenuate myocardial remodeling accompanied by left ventricular dysfunction. However, nothing is known about the effect of torasemide on myocardial remodeling in a rat model in which myosin-induced experimental autoimmune myocarditis might develop into dilated cardiomyopathy. Experimental autoimmune myocarditis was elicited in Lewis rats by immunization with porcine cardiac myosin. Twenty-eight days after immunization, we investigated the effects of torasemide on metabolic and neurohumoral parameters, cardiac fibrosis and remodeling in experimental autoimmune myocarditis rats. Diuresis was increased dose-dependently by torasemide; the urinary potassium and sodium excretion was significantly decreased and increased, respectively. Myocardial functional parameters measured by hemodynamic and echocardiographic studies were significantly improved by torasemide treatment in a dose-dependent manner. The area of fibrosis, myocyte size and the myocardial protein levels of transforming growth factor-beta1, collagen III, and aldosterone synthase were significantly decreased, and the sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPase2 protein level was significantly increased by torasemide treatment. Moreover, the plasma levels of angiotensin II and aldosterone were increased and atrial natriuretic peptide was decreased in a dose-dependent manner. Our results indicate that torasemide treatment significantly improved left ventricular function and ameliorated the progression of cardiac remodeling beyond its renal effects in rats with chronic heart failure after experimental autoimmune myocarditis.
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PMID:Torasemide, a long-acting loop diuretic, reduces the progression of myocarditis to dilated cardiomyopathy. 1815 49

Diuretics play an essential role in modern cardiovascular therapy, and are currently recommended for the treatment of congestive heart failure. Torasemide has been developed as a newer type of loop diuretic with a longer half-life, longer duration of action, and higher bioavailability compared to the most commonly used loop diuretic, furosemide. Torasemide also appears to have additional actions beyond the pure diuretic effect, such as anti-aldosterone effect and vasorelaxation effect. Studies have also investigated whether the superior pharmacokinetics and pharmacological activity of torasemide result in a favorable clinical outcome. Their results have indicated that, in comparison with furosemide, torasemide improves left ventricular function, reduces mortality as well as the frequency and duration of heart failure-related hospitalization, and improves quality of life, exercise tolerance and NYHA functional class in patients with congestive heart failure. Thus, torasemide appears to be a promising loop diuretic that contributes to a better management of patients with heart failure. Definitive clinical trials in a double-blind fashion are warranted.
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PMID:Torasemide for the treatment of heart failure. 1853 99

Loop diuretics could adversely influence prognosis due to activation of neurohumoral mechanism in the long term. Previous study showed torasemide, a loop diuretic with anti-aldosteronergic properties, was associated with lower mortality in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). We evaluated the effects of torasemide, in comparison with azosemide, in patients with CHF. Patients received oral diuretic therapy with torasemide (8 mg/d, n = 15) or azosemide (60 mg/d, n = 15) for 3 months. Torasemide and azosemide were then switched, and the patients were treated for another 3 months. Torasemide treatment induced significant decreases in left ventricular (LV) systolic wall stress (from 259 +/- 95 to 232 +/- 80 kdyn/cm2) and the plasma level of aldosterone (from 133 +/- 61 to 95 +/- 50 pg/mL) and was not associated with a change in the plasma level of norepinephrine. In contrast, the plasma level of norepinephrine was significantly increased (from 370 +/- 170 to 481 +/- 247 pg/mL), whereas LV systolic wall stress was unchanged after azosemide treatment. This study indicates that torasemide treatment reduced LV systolic wall stress without activation of the sympathetic nervous system in patients with CHF. The anti-aldosteronergic properties of torasemide may contribute to its favorable effects.
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PMID:Beneficial effects of torasemide on systolic wall stress and sympathetic nervous activity in asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic patients with heart failure: comparison with azosemide. 1943 Mar 10


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