Effect of spironolactone on plasma brain natriuretic peptide and left ventricular remodeling in patients with congestive heart failure

What Was Tested

Researchers studied BNP (Nesiritide) in this randomized controlled trial publication.

The researchers sought to evaluate the effects of spironolactone on neurohumoral factors and left ventricular remodeling in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF).

Why It Was Studied

Aldosterone (ALD) promotes collagen synthesis and structural remodeling of the heart.

Who Took Part

PubMed indexes the participants as middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

Thirty-seven patients with mild-to-moderate nonischemic CHF were randomly divided into two groups that received treatment with spironolactone (n = 20) or placebo (n = 17).

The researchers measured left ventricular volume and mass before treatment and after four months of treatment.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized and placebo-controlled.

The participants were allocated by chance, so the BNP (Nesiritide) group and the comparison group should start out alike.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with BNP (Nesiritide) could be set against what happens without it.

A time span of four months appears in the methods.

The researchers also measured the plasma levels of neurohumoral factors, such as atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), as well as plasma procollagen type III aminoterminal peptide (PIIINP), a marker of myocardial fibrosis.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Aldosterone, Cardiac Volume, Endomyocardial Fibrosis, Heart Failure, Natriuretic Peptide, Brain, Peptide Fragments and Procollagen.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and placebo-controlled study of BNP (Nesiritide) over four months.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 4 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2001 (Journal of the American College of Cardiology), a journal based in United States.

More context: the BNP (Nesiritide) compound page, all human trials.