Adverse effects of beta-blockade withdrawal in patients with congestive cardiomyopathy

Br Heart J. 1980 Aug;44(2):134-42. doi: 10.1136/hrt.44.2.134.

Abstract

Fifteen patients with congestive cardiomyopathy who had improved conspicuously on chronic administration of a beta-blocker were studied after withdrawal of the drug. In six patients there was a pronounced deterioration of their clinical condition, and in all of the remaining patients there was a significant decrease in ejection fraction, and signs of compromised diastolic function with pathological apex curves and an increase in third heart sound. All these changes were reversed within a few weeks to a few months after readministration of beta-blocking drugs. This study supports the idea that an aetiological factor in congestive cardiomyopathy may be a pathological response to sympathetic stimulation which could be partly controlled by administration of beta-blocking drugs.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adrenergic beta-Antagonists / therapeutic use*
  • Adult
  • Cardiomyopathies / drug therapy*
  • Cardiomyopathies / physiopathology
  • Female
  • Heart / physiopathology
  • Hemodynamics / drug effects
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged

Substances

  • Adrenergic beta-Antagonists