PURPOSE To assess the impact of beta-blocker therapy on quality of life (QoL) in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients receiving optimal standard medication. METHODS Randomised controlled trials (RCT) assessing QoL with a generic or disease specific instrument were identified by searching Medline, Embase, Pascal, Cochrane Controlled Trial database, and the bibliographies of the published artic...

While cardiovascular complications remain a leading cause of perioperative morbidity and mortality, studies have shown that prophylactic beta-blocker therapy can reduce the incidence of ischemia, myocardial infarction (MI), and cardiac death. Consensus guidelines and the publication of a recent meta-analysis support the use of perioperative beta-blockade in patients who are at risk for adverse ...

1 Three decades ago, prior to the use of anti-platelets and reperfusion therapy for patients with myocardial infarction (MI), intravenous beta-blocker was shown to produce a small although clinically significant benefit in reducing the combined end-point of death, cardiac arrest or reinfarction . Subsequently, a review of 29,260 patients in 51 short term trials showed that early beta-blocker us...

AIMS To assess the efficacy and safety of adjunctive antiarrhythmic drug therapy for preventing implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) therapies. METHODS AND RESULTS We conducted a systematic literature search to identify all randomized, controlled trials assessing the efficacy of adjunctive antiarrhythmic drug therapy. Trial data were reviewed and extracted independently by two investi...

Poisoning and overdose of beta-blockers may be associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Management is often complicated by failure of initial first-line interventions in severe ingestions. High-dose insulin, or hyperinsulinemia/euglycemia therapy has been well described in calcium channel blocker overdose as well as mixed ingestions of calcium channeland betablocker agents. The data...

AIMS Many chronic heart failure (CHF) patients take beta-blockers. When such patients are hospitalized for decompensation, it remains unclear how ongoing beta-blocker treatment will affect outcomes of acute inotrope therapy. We aimed to assess outcomes of SURVIVE patients who were on beta-blocker therapy before receiving a single intravenous infusion of levosimendan or dobutamine. METHODS AND...