Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of trimetazidine (TMZ) for chronic congestive heart failure. Methods We searched The Cochrane Library (Issue 3, 2006), MEDLINE (1990-2006), EMBASE (1990-2004), and the Chinese Biomedicine Database (1990- 2006 ) for parallel group randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and cross-over design trials comparing TMZ and placebo or open controls for patients with heart failure.We used The Cochrane Collaboration’s RevMan 4.2 software for data analyses. Results Four RCTs and two cross-over design trials were included. Meta-analyses showed that: compared with the control group, TMZ may improve the NYHA cardiac functional grade (RR 0.85, 95%CI 0.76 to 0.95), increase the total exercise time (WMD 51.40 seconds, 95%CI 15.56 to 87.25), the maximal metabolic equivalents (WMD 0.82, 95%CI 0.28 to 1.37), and the ejection fraction (WMD 7.29%, 95%CI 6.28 to 8.31), but may decrease the left ventricular end-diastolic volume (WMD –12.19 ml, 95%CI –15.29 to –9.09), the left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (WMD –6.05 mm, 95%CI –7.10 to –4.99), the left ventricular end-systolic volume (WMD –16.94 ml, 95%CI –20.34 to –13.55), the left ventricular end-systolic diameter (WMD –5.42 mm, 95%CI –5.98 to –4.86), and the serum brain natriuretic peptide (WMD –239.59 pg/ml, 95%CI –276.53 to –202.65). TMZ may also improve the quality of life (WMD 12.36, 95%CI 5.16 to 19.55). Conclusions TMZ plus standard medical therapy has a beneficial effect on the indices of cardiac function, and may also improve the patient’s quality of life. However, because available RCTs for this systematic review are too small and poor quality, (mainly focusing on the heart failure induced by ischemic heart diseases and merely taking intermediate indices as outcome measures), further high-quality large-scale RCTs with death as the endpoint and which include subgroup analysis of non-ischemic heart failure, are required in order to provide more reliable evidence.
Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) on the left ventricular texture parameters, blood kinetics parameters, degree of cardiac function and rate of side effects of patients with heart failure when compared to angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB). Methods We searched MEDLINE (1966 to 2004), EMBASE (1989 to 2000), The Cochrane Library (Issue 1, 2004), IPA (1970 to 2004), and Chinese Biomedicine Database (1980 to 2003). The quality of included studies such as randomization, blinding, allocation concealment and loss of follow up was evaluated and meta-analysis was performd by RevMan 4.2 software. Results Eighteen randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included. The meta-analysis of efficacy didn’t show statistical significance when comparing the pooled effect size of left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD), cardiac output (CO), heart rate (HR), degree of cardiac function. The pooled RR rate of side effects was 2.17, 95%CI 1.53 to 3.07, P＜0.000 01. Conclusions No evidence shows significant difference of ACEI group from ARB group in the improvement of cardiac function and left ventricle remodeling. The rate of side effects of ACEI is statistically higher than that of ARB.
Congestive heart failure is a complication of myocardial infarction threatening human health. Although the pharmacotherapy is effective, it is still a worldwide challenge to thoroughly repair the injured myocardium induced by myocardial infarction. It has been demonstrated that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can repair infarcted myocardium. Much evidence shows that MSCs can generate new myocardial cells in both human and animals' hearts. This review aims at discussing the therapeutic progress of the congestive heart failure treated with MSCs.
In recent years, with the development of ultrasound technology, pulmonary ultrasound is more and more used in the evaluation of patients with heart failure. B-lines are defined as reverberation artifacts starting from the pleural line and extending to the bottom of the screen without disappearing, and moving synchronously with pleural sliding, which are proportional to extravascular lung water in congestive heart failure (CHF). B-lines have the characteristics of no attenuation and synchronous movement with pleural sliding. Pulmonary ultrasound mainly record the numbers and widths of B-lines in the areas when assessing the severity of CHF, which have the characteristics of effectivity, non-invasiveness, instantaneousness, and good repeatability. Currently, there are 4-, 8-, 12-, and 28-subdivision methods for the evaluation of CHF in the pulmonary ultrasound subdivision method. The more subdivisions are, the longer the operation time will be, and the sensitivity and specificity will be different. How to choose a subdivision method is still controversial in clinical practice. Lung ultrasound could be used alone or combined with brain natriuretic peptide, echocardiography, chest X-ray, chest CT scan, etc. in the early diagnosis, assessment of disease severity, evaluation of efficacy, and assessment of prognosis of CHF, with different advantages and disadvantages. This article reviews the application and progress of pulmonary ultrasound in CHF.