Clinical experience in protecting the failing heart

Several large, carefully randomized studies of pharmaceutical agents in the treatment of patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) and left ventricular dysfunction have demonstrated conclusively that angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors reduce mortality among patients with CHF, as well as the number of hospitalizations for heart failure, myocardial infarction (MI), and angina. ACE inhibitors also have been shown to prevent the …