The ARTS study (Arterial Revascularization Therapies Study).

The rising costs of health care have forced policy makers to make choices, and new treatments are increasingly assessed in terms of the balance between additional costs and additional effects. The recent recognition that stenting has a major and long-lasting effect enhancing balloon PTCA procedure has made it imperative to compare in patients with multivessel disease the standard surgical procedure with multiple stenting in a large scale multinational and multicentre approach (19 countries, 68 sites). Selection and inclusion of patients is based on a consensus of the cardiac surgeon and interventional cardiologist on equal 'treatability' of patients by both techniques with analysis of clinical follow-up (event-free survival) on the short (30 day), medium (1 year), and long-term (3 and 5 year) with analysis of cost-effectiveness and quality of life (EuroQol and SF-36).

Coronary angioplasty with or without stent implantation for acute myocardial infarction. Stent Primary Angioplasty in Myocardial Infarction Study Group.

Background: Coronary-stent implantation is frequently performed for treatment of acute myocardial infarction. However, few studies have compared stent implantation with primary angioplasty alone.

Methods: We designed a multicenter study to compare primary angioplasty with angioplasty accompanied by implantation of a heparin-coated Palmaz-Schatz stent.

[Comparison between the effects of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin II antagonists].

The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) plays an important role in blood pressure regulation and fluid and electrolyte homeostasis. Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) were the first of the RAAS blocking agents to be widely used in the treatment of hypertension and congestive heart failure. Angiotensin II receptor antagonists, another class of pharmacological blockers of the RAAS, have more recently been shown to be safe and useful in hypertension and perhaps also in heart failure.

Placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind study of intravenous enalaprilat efficacy and safety in acute cardiogenic pulmonary edema.

Background: Converting enzyme inhibitors meet most of the criteria required to be used in acute pulmonary edema. However, they could also induce deleterious effects on renal function and electrolytes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a single intravenous 2-hour infusion of enalaprilat (1 mg) after an acute pulmonary edema.

Effects of losartan on renal function in patients with essential hypertension.

We examined the renal hemodynamic modifications induced by a selective angiotensin II (AII) AT1 receptor antagonist, losartan, in 10 patients with essential hypertension. In this single-blind study, renal hemodynamic parameters were determined twice (patients were their own controls) first after a 15-day single-blind placebo run-in period and again after a 1-month losartan period. The dosage of losartan was 50 mg/day.