Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors

About the Book ACE inhibitors are justly regarded as the most important advance in cardiac drug therapy since the advent of calcium channel antagonist drugs. Acting basically as inhibitors of the renin-angiotensin vasoconstrictor system, these agents have grown in importance to become among the therapeutic agents first choice for hypertension and a cornerstone of therapy in congestive heart failure. Recent studies show that they can also prevent overt heart failure and reinfarction, and beneficially influence diabetic renal lesions. The major aim of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors: Scientific Basis for Clinical Use is to present the clinician with the information needed for the practical and discerning use of ACE inhibitors. When do these agents really work and in what doses? Which claims are based on promotional material and which claims have relevance for the clinician in the practical treatment of hypertension, heart failure or myocardial infarction? This Second Edition adds new material that critically reviews the recent large trials including Consensus-II, Save, V-HeFT-II, Aire, and ISIS-IV and guides the clinician toward a rational policy of use. There is an important new chapter on the use of ACE inhibitors in the metabolic cardiovascular syndrome and in diabetic nephropathy. Reviews of Other Books by the Author Drugs for the Heart–“A gem” (New England Journal of Medicine) The Heart–“The subjects are brilliantly illuminated and made exciting by excellent line diagrams” (The Lancet) Reviews of First Edition of this Book “A new milestone” (British Medical Journal) “Pathophysiology is clarified by numerous diagrams in a style well-known from Opie’s former books” (The Lancet)