Levels of A-type and B-type natriuretic peptides respond to treatment with the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor enalapril in patients with chronic heart failure. Plasma levels of these cardiac hormones appear to be more sensitive than conventional echocardiographic parameters and cardiothoracic ratios in response to enalapril, and may be more sensitive markers of heart failure.
These results are from a study conducted by investigators from Kumamoto University School of Medicine and the Kumamoto Aging Research Institute in Kumamoto and the Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine in Kyoto, Japan. Twenty-four patients with chronic heart failure were treated with 5 mg of enalapril per day for three months. The patients were then divided into two equal groups: one group continued treatment with 5 mg of enalapril per day and the second received 15 mg enalapril per day for another three months. Plasma levels of A-type and B-type natriuretic peptides, cardiothoracic ratio, left ventricular end-diastolic volume and percent fractional shortening were all determined.
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