Probenecid, a drug long used to treat drop, may improve heart function in adult patients with heart failure, according to the results of a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. Heart failure occurs when the heart pump is not strong enough to circulate blood throughout the body and meet the body’s oxygen needs.
Probenecid improves heart function
Researchers at the University of Cincinnati Medical in the United States conducted a trial with 20 patients who were prescribed probenecid, a drug traditionally used to treat gout, for 4 weeks. For this study, this treatment had previously been tested in the laboratory on animals. As a result of this experiment, the researchers observed that probenecid in animal heart cells improved the way the heart uses calcium, an important element in heart muscle contraction.
All the volunteers underwent, among other things, an echocardiogram, an electrocardiogram and a six-minute endurance test.
The results of the experiment showed that probenecid provided an improvement in heart function.
“This is the first time that probenecid has been used in patients withheart failure and we’ve shown it increases heart contraction in patients with heart failure,” says Jack Rubinstein, associate professor in the Division of Cardiovascular Health and Disease.
While the results of this study are encouraging, they need to be confirmed through a larger clinical trial.
In France, heart failure affects one million people and is responsible for more than 23,000 deaths each year.
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