Efficacy of ivabradine in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy patients with chronic heart failure

AbstractBackgroundThe aim of this study was to investigate the effect of ivabradine on symptoms, quality of life, effort tolerance, and echocardiographic parameters in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy presenting with New York Heart Association (NYHA) class III or IV heart failure (HF) symptoms.MethodsWe screened 167 patients hospitalized for NYHA class III or IV chronic HF symptoms and left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction <40%. Of these, 53 were randomly assigned to either guidelines-based medical therapy alone (23 patients, control group) or ivabradine as add-on therapy (30 patients) for 3months with about 1year follow up.ResultsAfter 3months’ treatment, adding ivabradine significantly reduced the heart rate from 96 to 72bpm (p