Mygripe – MEDICAL researchers are heralding a breakthrough in the treatment of cardiovascular disease.
A trial has found the number of people who died from heart failure was reduced by a quarter when their resting pulse was lowered to 70 beats per minute or less.
The four-year trial, comprising more than 6000 chronic heart failure patients from 37 countries, tested the impact of reducing heart rate using a new class of drug, Ivabradine.
Known as the SHIFT study, it was funded by the Servier Foundation, the not-for-profit research and development wing of the giant French pharmaceuticals company.
The trial established a 26 per cent reduction in the rate of death and hospitalisation among patients on Ivabradine.
The results were unveiled at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Stockholm last night, and published in The Lancet.
The national co-ordinator of the SHIFT study in Australia is Henry Krum, director of the Centre for Cardiovascular Research at Monash University.
Speaking from Stockholm, Professor Krum told The Australian the trial was a landmark in the treatment of chronic heart failure as it revealed that slowing the heart rate to the threshold level of 70 beats per minute could halt the disease’s progression.
But unlike traditional beta-blockers, which block receptors in the heart and limit the circulation of harmful hormones, Ivabradine regulates the heart’s pacemaker directly.
And it does so without lowering blood pressure, which beta-blockers do.
“That’s important, because we have patients with so many background medicines that lower their blood pressure, so we can add in this treatment and get the benefits without worrying about their blood pressure falling through their boots,” Professor Krum said.
“The No 1 problem I see in clinic every week are patients who feel dizzy and light-headed on standing up, and this will not make the problem worse.
“We’ve been waiting for something new for 15 years since the beta-blockers came along, and this looks like it.”
Side-effects from the trial included a “flashing phenomenon” in the eye, but this did not cause participants to quit the trial, he added.
Mygripe
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