PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - K Swedberg
AU  - A Hjalmarson
AU  - F Waagstein
AU  - I Wallentin
TI  - Adverse effects of beta-blockade withdrawal in patients with congestive cardiomyopathy.
AID  - 10.1136/hrt.44.2.134
DP  - 1980 Aug 01
TA  - British Heart Journal
PG  - 134--142
VI  - 44
IP  - 2
4099  - http://heart.bmj.com/content/44/2/134.short
4100  - http://heart.bmj.com/content/44/2/134.full
SO  - Heart1980 Aug 01; 44
AB  - Fifteen patients with congestive cardiomyopathy who had improved conspicuously on chronic administration of a beta-blocker were studied after withdrawal of the drug. In six patients there was a pronounced deterioration of their clinical condition, and in all of the remaining patients there was a significant decrease in ejection fraction, and signs of compromised diastolic function with pathological apex curves and an increase in third heart sound. All these changes were reversed within a few weeks to a few months after readministration of beta-blocking drugs. This study supports the idea that an aetiological factor in congestive cardiomyopathy may be a pathological response to sympathetic stimulation which could be partly controlled by administration of beta-blocking drugs.