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

In an attempt to diagnose latent heart failure, a transient increase of afterload to left ventricle was produced by angiotensin II, and the ventricular movement was assessed by echocardiography. Angiotensin II was administered in a dose of 0.075 micrograms/kg body weight. Blood pressure was elevated by 40.5 +/- 14.5 mmHg in 38 cases with latent heart failure and by 41.2 +/- 4.5 mmHg in 30 normal subjects. Yet, only in the former group, posterior wall excursion of left ventricle reduced from 11.4 +/- 2.4 mm to 7.3 +/- 2.3 mm and mean posterior wall velocity from 41.4 +/- 10.1mm/sec to 26.5 +/- 8.8 mm/sec. The rates of these reductions were inversely correlated to the rate of elevation of left ventricular endodiastolic pressure as determined in 5 cases by cardiac catheterization. There was no change in 30 subjects. The data indicate the usefulness of angiotensin-induced echocardiographic changes in detecting latent cadiac failure.
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PMID:Ultrasonodiagnosis of subclinical heart failure by increasing afterload with angiotensin II. 47 Jan 39

ACE-inhibitors improve symptoms and prognosis in patients with heart failure. The V-Heft II trial has demonstrated that the beneficial effect of these agents is superior to unspecific vasodilators. Besides sustained arterial and venous vasodilation the inhibition of the neurohumoral axis is thought to play an important role. Angiotensin II and catecholamines not only exert vasoconstrictor effects, but might also contribute to vascular and myocardial growth. Thus, it may not be surprising that the beneficial effects of ACE inhibitors in heart failure only emerge during long-term therapy rather than after short-term administration. It has been shown that these agents improve blood flow to skeletal muscle during exercise after chronic therapy (not acutely), and there is some preliminary evidence that improvement of endothelial function might be involved in this effect, i.e., by reducing the degradation of bradykinin, an endothelial vasodilator. ACE inhibitors reduce LV hypertrophy, an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease and prognosis. Moreover, there is experimental evidence that ACE inhibitors can prevent and even reverse interstitial fibrosis in the left ventricle. Although the plasma renin activity may be normal in patients with chronic heart failure, recent data using polymerase chain reaction indicate that the tissue cardiac renin angiotensin system is activated in the failing human heart as assessed by measurements of angiotensin converting enzyme mRNA and angiotensinogen mRNA which may be an important target for ACE-inhibition.
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PMID:[The value of ACE inhibitors in heart failure (mechanism of action)]. 129 Mar 8

As soon as there is evidence of left ventricular dysfunction, even before clinical signs of chronic cardiac failure (CCF) have developed, intrinsic and extrinsic compensatory mechanisms are brought into play by the body. The majority of these mechanisms are under the influence of neurohumoral systems. When neurohormonal responses persist, as in CCF, they take on a beneficial nature since they participate in adaptation of the cardiovascular system as a whole, but they are also harmful since they worsen the working conditions of the myocardium by their cardiac and peripheral effects. Hyperactivity of the noradrenergic sympathetic nervous system is seen in CCF with levels 2 to 3 times higher as compared with subjects with normal left ventricular function. The circadian rhythm of catecholamines is modified. The increase in circulatory catecholamines is all the greater when cardiac failure is advanced. This release of noradrenaline (NA) is under the control of arterial baroreceptors which normally send to the central nervous system inhibitory inflow from the sympathetic nervous system. Inhibitory tone is released in case of a fall in blood pressure. Noradrenaline acts on beta-predominant myocardial receptors (inotropic and tachycardic) and alpha-predominant vascular receptors, resulting in arteriolar vasoconstriction. There is rapid onset of down regulation of myocardial beta-receptors. This fall essentially concerns beta 1, but beta 2 also, since they may be affected according to the etiology of CCF (ischemia). The Renin Angiotensin System (RAS) is also activated by the fall in systemic blood pressure. This consists of a cascade of reactions leading to the synthesis of angiotensin II responsible for powerful vasoconstriction of all arterial areas, including the coronary vessels.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:[Metabolic changes in cardiac failure]. 130 Sep 20

Inhibition of intrarenal neutral endopeptidase 24:11 (NEP) increases the natriuretic response to infused atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP). In various models of canine heart failure, angiotensin and kinins have been shown to modulate ANP and (or) NEP activity. In the present study, we examined possible modulators of NEP activity in normal dogs by infusing various agents into the left renal artery (or by denervating the left kidney) and comparing the response of this kidney with that of the contralateral one following the combined intravenous infusion of Squibb 28603 (a potent NEP inhibitor) and ANP (75 ng.kg-1.min-1). Four dogs received angiotensin (1.5 ng.kg-1.min-1) into the left renal artery, 8 dogs received saralasin (5 micrograms/min), 5 dogs received noradrenaline (2 micrograms/min), and 6 dogs received bradykinin (3 micrograms/min). Five dogs underwent left renal denervation. Angiotensin inhibited sodium excretion following the NEP inhibitor alone and after the NEP inhibitor plus ANP. Saralasin augmented the natriuretic response. None of the other protocols influenced sodium excretion. We conclude that angiotensin may modulate either the enzymatic degradation of ANP or influence its renal tubular effects.
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PMID:Modification of the renal response to endopeptidase inhibition and atrial natriuretic peptide infusion in normal dogs. 130 Dec 33

Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors are now widely used in the treatment of hypertension and heart failure. They are clearly as effective as other conventional antihypertensive agents in reducing blood pressure and combined with diuretics seem likely to transform current management of chronic heart failure. Myocardial infarction remains the major cause of death in patients with raised blood pressure and current studies should establish whether the attractive features of ACE inhibitors translate into reduction in the rate of infarction or its consequences. Similarly, whilst symptomatic benefit undoubtedly accrues from their use in heart failure it is less clear that they can prolong life particularly when used in the immediate setting of a myocardial infarction. Again a number of ongoing major trials are set to establish whether these drugs reduce death in patients with chronic heart failure (V-HeFT II, SOLVD) and in patients immediately after myocardial infarction (CONSENSUS II, SAVE,. AIRE, GISSI III and ISIS IV). The physician has a wide choice of ACE inhibitors with different pharmacological profiles for clinical use.
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PMID:Cardioprotection and ACE inhibitors. 130 64

Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors are utilized in the treatment of essential hypertension and of chronic cardiac failure. They are also employed in the treatment of the myocardial lesion of ischemia-reperfusion, which involves oxygen free radicals. In the present study we investigated the possibility of three angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (captopril, enalapril, lisinopril) to act as hydroxyl radical scavengers. The rate constants for reactions of those compounds with .OH were determined using the deoxyribose method. All there compounds proved to be good scavengers of .OH with rate constants of about 10(10)M-1s-1 and are iron chelators specially enalapril. The fact that captopril possesses a thiol group does not confer an higher antioxidative capacity. These results suggest that scavenging of oxygen free radicals may be a possible mechanism contributing to the therapeutic effect of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors.
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PMID:[Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors as neutralizers of hydroxyl radical]. 132 14

Angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitors are now widely used to treat patients with high blood pressure or heart failure. The favourable results obtained with these inhibitors of the renin-angiotensin system suggest that angiotensin II has a noxious effect on the development and/or course of these diseases. ACE inhibitors are usually well tolerated. Their most severe side-effects are mostly foreseeable and therefore avoidable. Chronic blockade of the renin-angiotensin system increasingly seems to be a good therapeutic approach to the protection of the vital organs.
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PMID:[What have we learned from converting enzyme inhibitors on renin-angiotensin system?]. 133 8

The actions of angiotensin II can be described in terms of the three paradigms listed in Table 1. According to the first paradigm (organ physiology), angiotensin II is a pressor, while the second (cell biochemistry) views it as an extracellular messenger that, by promoting Ca2+ release within cells, causes vasoconstriction and a weak positive inotropic response by the heart. However, neither of these paradigms fully explains the remarkable ability of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors to improve the prognosis for patients with heart failure. To account for these clinical effects of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, we will probably need to invoke the third paradigm (gene expression), which views angiotensin II as a growth factor that promotes and modifies protein synthesis. Angiotensin II, therefore, should probably not be viewed simply as a vasoconstrictor with a side effect to promote hypertrophy, but instead as a growth factor that, because it utilizes Ca2+ to mediate its effects on gene expression, also increases smooth muscle tone and myocardial contractility. This view of angiotensin II as a growth factor helps us to understand the clinical benefit of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors as arising from inhibition of maladaptive changes in the failing heart (gene expression) as well as from the reduced afterload (organ physiology) that results from decreased smooth muscle tone (cell biochemistry).
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PMID:Is angiotensin II a growth factor masquerading as a vasopressor? 134 1

REASON FOR TREATMENT: In patients with asymptomatic high blood pressure, antihypertensive treatment is initiated for only one reason, to prevent the hypertensive sequelae of myocardial infarction, stroke and heart failure. MORBIDITY, MORTALITY AND SURROGATE ENDPOINTS: Only diuretics and beta-blockers have been shown to benefit hypertensive patients in terms of the hard endpoints morbidity and mortality. beta-Blockers and diuretics are cheaper than newer drugs and thus represent good value for money. It is not acceptable to use drug effects on plasma lipids or insulin resistance as measures of the effects on coronary heart disease, since dihydropyridine calcium antagonists improve these parameters while significantly increasing coronary heart disease events in the acute and chronic ischaemic situation. PATIENT PROFILING: Diuretics. Diuretics appear particularly suited to elderly hypertensives, especially those with isolated systolic hypertension, but they may increase cardiac events in younger and middle-aged diabetic and non-diabetic hypertensives. Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors. ACE inhibitors are undoubtedly valuable in the presence of left ventricular dysfunction, and possibly in the diabetic in maintaining good renal function. beta-Blockers. beta-Blockers are particularly well suited to younger and middle-aged hypertensives at all blood pressure levels, especially white males; where ischaemia and/or stress is a factor, beta-blockers can significantly reduce the incidence of myocardial infarction and strokes. beta-Blockers benefit elderly hypertensives by preventing strokes and may prevent coronary heart disease if prescribed with a diuretic.
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PMID:The case for beta-blockers as first-line antihypertensive therapy. 135 11

Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition and digoxin may be used in the management of heart failure. Digoxin increases myocardial contractility in vitro, and has a modest but durable beneficial effect in congestive heart failure due to impaired left ventricular systolic function. ACE inhibitors have clear beneficial effects in all grades of heart failure and, in addition, modify the natural history and reduce mortality. Comparative studies in mild to moderate heart failure reveal a tendency towards greater benefits and tolerability of ACE inhibitors over digoxin. ACE inhibition is indicated, in conjunction with diuretic therapy, for all grades of heart failure. Digoxin is best reserved for patients with atrial fibrillation and a rapid ventricular response, and for those whose heart failure is not controlled with an ACE inhibitor plus a diuretic. In patients with heart failure following myocardial infarction, digoxin is of modest benefit. Digoxin should be administered slowly and carefully to avoid acute vasoconstriction and toxicity. Provisional data suggest ACE inhibitors are also beneficial in these patients. However, the results of clinical trials presently in progress are required to clarify their role following myocardial infarction.
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PMID:Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors versus digoxin for the treatment of congestive heart failure. 137 44


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