title: New hope for the failing heart.
abstract: One sixth of this nation's citizens have disease of the heart and blood vessels; an estimated 3.5 to 4 million Americans have chronic cardiac failure. The individual and collective losses associated with heart failure are enormous. Standard medical therapy with digitalis and diuretics is frequently inadequate to control and morbidity associated with this often times malignant process. More effective medical therapy is therefore needed. The recent development of potent, orally active cardiotonic agents may make this objective a reality. At the present time, the new cardiotonic agents are still in the experimental stages of investigation. Phase II and III clinical trials must be either initiated or completed before the efficacy and safety of these agents will be known. It must be emphasized that objective parameters of ventricular function and the patients's quality of life must be monitored if meaningful verdicts are to be rendered. Information must be gathered that indicates whether prolonged therapy with these agents is detrimental to the myocardium. Despite this caveat, the availability of compounds having potent inotropic properties had generated much anticipation and excitement in clinical cardiology. Our ability to more effectively manage patients with chronic cardiac failure may now be on the horizon. There is, indeed, new hope for the failing heart.
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D002316:Cardiotonic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004341:Drug Evaluation; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D009200:Myocardial Contraction / Q000187:drug effects; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D002316:Cardiotonic Agents