ABSTRACT
Due to differences in treatment effect in studies on the effectiveness of digoxin in patients with congestive heart failure in sinus rhythm, a cross-over placebo-controlled randomized double blind clinical trial was performed. Thirty one patients, without previous treatment with digoxin, in New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class II to IV, with a dilated left ventricle and/or ventricular systolic dysfunction were included. Patients received digoxin, adjusted for blood levels, or placebo, during an 8 week period, prior to crossing over to the other treatment for another 8 weeks. The order of tretments was randomly allocated. Outcome measurement were performed at the end of each 8 week period. Digoxin, compared with placebo, improved NYHA class, 6,9 por ciento vs 41.4 por ciento (p=0.013) and increased the treadmill exercise time, 406 ñ 204 s vs 484 ñ 185 s (p=0.003). During the digoxin treatment the left ventricular and systolic diameter was reduced from 52.9 ñ 8.9 to 50.1 ñ 9.7 mm (p=0.009). No significant difference was observed in the left ventricular end diastolic diameter (LVED) of the left ventricle and in a estimation of quality of life. In conclusion, digoxin treatment produced a significant improvement in functional capacity, exercise time and left ventricular performance