[Clinical course, prognosis in patients treated for dilated cardiomyopathy]

Studies on heart failure treatment established the rationale of polypharmacy: it means combined diuretics, digoxin and vasodilators first of all ACE inhibitor therapy. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of this therapy on the clinical course of 209 pts with dilatative cardiomyopathy and consecutive moderate--severe heart failure followed by and regularly controlled through 2.5-4 on the average 3 years at specialised out-patient clinic. Analysis of pts history showed the different frequency in occurrence of previous longlasting physical stress, alcohol consumption and viral infection respectively, which might have been the conditioning factors of heart failure. Cardiomegaly was evaluated on the basis of quantitative data of X-ray, and haemodynamic data from radionuclide measurements, that of the clinical course by a score system. The improvement of cardiomegaly and haemodynamic data, were observed in 6 months of treatment. The evaluation of clinical course showed improvement in 61%, and stable condition in 26% of pts in half a year. The rate of pts with improved and stable condition proved the beneficial effect of regular care and combined drug therapy. A similar longterm follow-up study on same large pts population with heart failure has not been published yet in Hungary.