New pharmacological treatments for heart failure available.

2004 AUG 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- New pharmacological treatments for heart failure are available.

"Congestive heart failure is a leading cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, and is the main cause of hospitalization among patients older than 65 years. Moreover, its prevalence is expected to reach nearly epidemic proportions, so that the need for new treatments is clear," scientists in Spain report.

"In this article," wrote J. Tamargo and coworkers, "we review current and future strategies for the treatment of systolic heart failure that are based on a better understanding of the pathophysiology of this disorder and on the results of controlled clinical trials of different treatments."

"Drugs under development (phase II and III clinical trials) have been classified into four main groups: neurohumoral antagonists, inotropic agents, modulators of myocardial remodeling, and future approaches to treatment such as gene therapy and anti-apoptotic drugs.

"We also discuss new strategies for the treatment of diastolic heart failure," scientists concluded.

Tamargo and colleagues published their study in Revista Espanola de Cardiologia (Rationale and clinical evidence for the effects of new pharmacological treatments for heart failure. Rev Espan Cardiol, 2004;57(5):447-464).

For more information, contact J. Tamargo, University of Complutense, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Farmacol, Avda Complutense S-N, E-28040 Madrid, Spain.

Publisher contact information for the journal Revista Espanola de Cardiologia is: Ediciones Doyma S, L, Trav de Gracia 17-21, 08021 Barcelona, Spain.

The information in this article comes under the major subject areas of Cardiology, Epidemiology, Risk Factor and Gene Therapy, and Pharmaceutical and Drug Development.

This article was prepared by Blood Weekly editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2004, Blood Weekly via NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net.