Comparación de digoxina y enalapril en insuficiencia cardíaca secundaria a insuficiencia mitral / Comparison of the effects of digoxin or enalapril in the treatment of heart failure due to mitral insufficiency

Background: There is not much evidence about the usefulness of digoxin or enalapril in the treatment of heart failure due to mitral insufficiency. Aim: to compare digoxin and enalapril in the treatmen of heart failure due to mitral insufficiency. Patients and methods: Patients with mitral insufficiency, in sinus rhythm, with a heart failure grade II or III and with echocardiographic left ventricular dilatation were eligible for the study. They received sequentially, during 12 weeks each, digoxin 0.25 mg/day or enalapril in doses up to 20 mg/day, with a washout in-between period of 2 weeks. The order of the sequence was determined randomly. At the start and end of treatment, functional class according to NYHA and maximal exercise tolerance in the treadmil were assessed and a color Doppler echocardiogram was done to measure ventricular dimensions, function and degree of mitral insufficiency. Results: Nine patients on enalapril and 12 on digoxin improved their functional capacity. Digoxin improved exercise time in 76ñ168 sec (p= 0.022), whereas this change was not significant with enalapril (38ñ158 sec; p= 0.2). With enalapril treatmen, ventricular diastolic dimensiondecreased from 59.3ñ8.1 to 58ñ9.3 mm and the area of mitral insufficiency decreased from 8.1ñ3.5 to 6.6ñ3.1 cm2. Digoxin did not induce any significant echocardiographic change. Conclusions: In these patients, digoxin and enalapril improved functional class. Digoxin improved exercise time and enalapril reduced ventricular dimensions and mitral insufficiency

Factores de riesgo cardiovascular en 15 nefrópatas de la ciudad de Temuco en diálisis crónica: comparación descriptiva con la población general chilena / Cardiovascular risk factors in 15 nephrology patients in maintenance dialysis of Temuco city: comparison with chilean general population

Patients in chronic hemodialysis have a high mortality due to cardiovascular diseases. To study cardiovascular risk factors and nutritional status in a group of patients in maintenance hemodialysis, body mass index, blood pressure, serum levels of total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides and albumin were measured in 15 patients (8 males). Data were compared with available figures for the normal chilean population. Age ranged from 33 to 60 years oldin female patients and from 22 to 63 years old in males. Thirteen subjects (87 percent) has a high blood pressure, all had HDL cholesterol levels below 35 mg/dl, 4 (27 percent) had a total cholesterol over 200 mg/dl, 3 had triglyceride levels over 200 mg/dl, 2 (13 percent) smoked and none were diabetic. Mean body mass index was normal, albumin levels were 4.16 and 4.02 g/dl and serum creatinine was 11.64 and 9.68 mg/dl in males and females respectively. The estimated prevalence of high blood pressure, hypercholesterolemia and smoking in the general chilean population range from 9 to 22 percent, from 50 to 52 percent and from 45 to 51 percent respectively. In conclusion, this group of patients has a high frequency of high blood pressure and low HDL cholesterol levels