diastolic HF and aldosterone receptor antagonist

Mixed Signals for Diastolic Heart Failure Drug

By Charles Bankhead, Staff Writer, MedPage Today Published: September 16, 2010 Reviewed by Dori F. Zaleznik, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston and Dorothy Caputo, MA, RN, BC-ADM, CDE, Nurse Planner SAN DIEGO -- Patients with diastolic heart failure had mixed results when treated with an aldosterone receptor antagonist, investigators reported here. Diastolic function improved and markers of collagen turnover declined significantly after six months of treatment with eplerenone (Inspra). However, those beneficial effects did not translate into improved exercise capacity, Anita Deswal, MD, reported here at the Heart Failure Society of America meeting. "We observed no improvement in exercise capacity, as determined by six-minute walk distance, or in quality of life among patients treated with the aldosterone antagonist eplerenone," said Deswal, of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston./.../