[Clinical, haemodynamic and biochemical effects of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition in chronic refractory cardiac failure (author's transl)].

: Twenty patients with chronic congestive heart failure resistant to conventional treatment with digitalis, diuretics and vasodilators received captopril, an oral inhibitor of the angiotensin-converting enzyme, in daily doses of 200 mg and were followed up for 2 months or more. At 2 months, there was a significant reduction in functional symptoms (NYHA classification), bodyweight and left ventricular filling pressure, with an equally significant rise in cardiac output and sodium urinary excretion. There was no fall in systemic blood pressure, nor tachycardia. These effects were sustained in 8 patients followed up for 6 months. They seem to indicate that captopril is both effective and well tolerated in chronic congestive heart failure.