EFFECTS OF ENALAPRIL ON CARDIAC-FUNCTION, EXERCISE CAPACITY, AND BIOCHEMICAL FACTORS IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC HEART-FAILURE

The angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor enalapril was admini stered to 13 patients with chronic heart failure (New York Heart Assoc iation class II or III) for 12 weeks, and its effects on resting cardi ac function (shown by echocardiogram), exercise capacity, and biochemi cal factors sere investigated, Left ventricular end-diastolic and end- systolic diameters improved significantly from 60.3 +/- 5.4 mm at base line to 57.2 +/- 5.7 mm after 12 weeks of treatment and from 50.2 +/- 5.9 mm to 46.8 +/- 5.6 mm, respectively; however left atrial dimension did not change significantly after treatment, Peak oxygen uptake also improved significantly after. enalapril treatment (20.0 +/- 6.9 mL/kg / min at baseline to 22.4 +/- 7.6 mL/kg/min after treatment), as did a naerobic threshold by was exchange (17.1 +/- 6.4 mL/kg/min vs 18.4 +/- 5.8 mL/kg/min). The serum levels of atrial natriuretic peptide and be ta-endorphin decreased significantly after treatment (47.6 +/- 42.1 pg /mL before vs 31.6 +/- 29.2 pg/mL, after treatment and 11.6 +/- 3.6 pg /mL vs 5.9 +/- 2.8 pg/mL, respectively). These results indicated that enalapril is useful for improving resting cardiac function, exercise c apacity, and biochemical factors in patients with chronic heart failur e.