This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (24)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related article  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

-Blocker Therapy for Heart Failure

The Evidence Is In, Now the Work Begins

Robert M. Califf, MD; Christopher M. O'Connor, MD

JAMA. 2000;283:1335-1337.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

The young intern, Dr O'Connor, is beginning his rotation in the cardiac care unit in 1983. His faculty attending, Dr Califf, notices that Dr O'Connor has initiated -blockade in a patient with heart failure. The discussion that ensues does not reflect positively on Dr O'Connor's future career. In 2000, both physicians realize that their understanding of blockade of the -receptor as a simple matter of reducing myocardial contractility was shortsighted and fundamentally incorrect. Dr O'Connor had initiated the right therapy but for the wrong reason.

This issue of THE JOURNAL contains the complete results of the Metoprolol CR/XL Randomized Intervention Trial in Congestive Heart Failure (MERIT-HF),¹ including detailed quality-of-life and hospitalization data. As previously reported,² the trial emphasizes the improvement in mortality among patients with moderate heart failure when treated with the long-acting -blocker controlled-release/extended-release metoprolol succinate (metoprolol CR/XL). (Similar survival information . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Author Affiliations: Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

RELATED ARTICLE

Effects of Controlled-Release Metoprolol on Total Mortality, Hospitalizations, and Well-being in Patients With Heart Failure: The Metoprolol CR/XL Randomized Intervention Trial in Congestive Heart Failure (MERIT-HF)
Åke Hjalmarson, Sidney Goldstein, Björn Fagerberg, Hans Wedel, Finn Waagstein, John Kjekshus, John Wikstrand, Dia El Allaf, Jirí Vítovec, Jan Aldershvile, Matti Halinen, Rainer Dietz, Karl-Ludwig Neuhaus, András Jánosi, Gudmundur Thorgeirsson, Peter H. J. M. Dunselman, Lars Gullestad, Jerzy Kuch, Johan Herlitz, Peter Rickenbacher, Stephen Ball, Stephen Gottlieb, Prakash Deedwania, and for the MERIT-HF Study Group
JAMA. 2000;283(10):1295-1302.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Efficacy, safety and tolerability of {beta}-adrenergic blockade with metoprolol CR/XL in elderly patients with heart failure
Deedwania et al.
Eur Heart J 2004;25:1300-1309.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Improving Guideline Adherence: A Randomized Trial Evaluating Strategies to Increase {beta}-Blocker Use in Heart Failure
Ansari et al.
Circulation 2003;107:2799-2804.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Treatment of chronic heart failure with {beta} adrenergic blockade beyond controlled clinical trials: the BRING-UP experience
Maggioni et al.
Heart 2003;89:299-305.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Management of patients with heart failure: are internists as good as cardiologists?
Bonarjee and Dickstein
Eur Heart J 2001;22:530-531.
 

Treatment of Congestive Heart Failure: Guidelines for the Primary Care Physician and the Heart Failure Specialist
Gomberg-Maitland et al.
Arch Intern Med 2001;161:342-352.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Spironolactone for Heart Failure : Spiraling Out of Control
Geraci and Knowlton
Chest 2000;118:1522-1523.
FULL TEXT  

Perioperative Treatment of Congestive Heart Failure
Clark
SEMIN CARDIOTHORAC VASC ANESTH 2000;4:223-235.
ABSTRACT  

The Quest to Quantify Quality
Fihn
JAMA 2000;283:1740-1742.
FULL TEXT