title: The effects of captopril in severe congestive heart failure. An echocardiographic study.
abstract: In 12 patients with severe congestive heart failure (CHF), captopril in doses of 25 to 150 mg, every 8 hours, was given for a period of 2 months, in addition to cardiac glycoside and diuretic drugs. After this treatment left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (EDD) decreased from 6.4 +/- 0.5 to 6.2 +/- 0.6 cm (p less than 0.05), left-ventricular end-systolic diameter (ESD) decreased from 5.7 +/- 0.5 to 5.4 +/- 0.6 cm (p less than 0.001), the ejection fraction increased from 30.8 +/- 7.0 to 36.2 +/- 6.9% (p less than 0.005) and mean velocity of circumferential fiber shortening (Vcf) increased from 0.51 +/- 0.12 to 0.62 +/- 0.13 circ/sec (p less than 0.001). Captopril markedly relieved dyspnea and fatigue. Three patients improved from class IV to class III, 4 patients from class IV to class II and 3 patients from class III to class II. These data suggest that captopril may be effective in the treatment of severe chronic CHF.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, County Timişoara Hospital, Romania.
authors.forename: S I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Drăgulescu
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nicolin
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Streian
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002216:Captopril / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004341:Drug Evaluation; D004452:Echocardiography; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D002216:Captopril