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Long-term clinical effect of nilvadipine in patients with chronic heart failure: a double-blind placebo-controlled
Insights
Nilvadipine did not improve chronic heart failure symptoms or cardiac function in a 12-week trial. Long-term nilvadipine treatment (16 mg daily) appears neither effective nor harmful for heart failure patients.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Calcium channel blockers' long-term use in chronic heart failure is disappointing due to sympathetic activation.
- Nilvadipine, with minimal sympathetic effects, was investigated for potential heart failure benefits.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the 12-week efficacy and safety of nilvadipine in mild-to-moderate chronic heart failure.
- To assess nilvadipine's impact on heart failure symptoms and cardiac function compared to placebo.
Main Methods:
- A double-blind, randomized trial involving 23 patients with mild-to-moderate chronic heart failure.
- Patients received either 16 mg of nilvadipine daily or a placebo for 12 weeks.
Main Results:
- No significant differences were observed between the nilvadipine and placebo groups in any measured parameters.
- Serious adverse effects were not reported during the study period.
Conclusions:
- The study failed to demonstrate any beneficial effect of long-term nilvadipine administration in chronic heart failure.
- Nilvadipine (16 mg daily) is considered neither effective nor harmful for long-term treatment of chronic heart failure.
Abstract:
The long-term effect of calcium channel blockers on chronic heart failure is disappointing, probably because of reflex sympathetic activation through arterial vasodilation. However, nilvadipine may be beneficial for treatment of chronic heart failure since this drug has minimal effects on sympathetic activation. In this study, the effects of 12-week administration of nilvadipine or placebo on symptoms of heart failure and cardiac function were investigated in 23 patients with mild-to-moderate chronic heart failure in a double-blind trial. The patients were randomly assigned to either a nilvadipine group (16 mg daily) or a placebo group. Intergroup comparisons did not show significant differences in any parameters. Serious adverse effects were not observed during the study. Thus, this study failed to show any beneficial effect of nilvadipine in the long-term treatment of patients with chronic heart failure. We conclude that the long-term administration of nilvadipine (16 mg daily) is neither effective nor harmful in the treatment of patients with chronic heart failure.