The impact of baseline left ventricular size and mitral regurgitation on reverse left ventricular remodelling in response to carvedilol: size doesn't matter.

b Blockers have been shown to reverse left ventricular remodelling (LVR) and to reduce the severity of functional mitral regurgitation (FMR) in patients with chronic systolic heart failure. It is unclear, however, to what extent the beneficial effects of b blockers on LVR or FMR are influenced by the severity of left ventricular dilatation or FMR at the time of commencement of b blocker treatment. We retrospectively analysed serial echocardiograms taken at baseline and two years after commencement of carvedilol in 257 patients with chronic heart failure caused by left ventricular systolic dysfunction.