[Captopril in cardiac insufficiency. Immediate and long-term effects].

Captopril was administered to 23 patients in cardiac failure refractory to digitalo-diuretic therapy. Four patients had a large fall in systolic blood pressure (less than 70 mmHg) with a single dose of 25 mg of captopril. In the other 19 patients a significant fall in mean pulmonary capillary pressure (16,8 +/- 6,1 mmHg vs 27,2 +/- 8,5 mmHg, p less than 0,001), mean pulmonary artery pressure (26,3 +/- 11,3 mmHg vs 38,3 +/- 12,4 mmHg, p less than 0,001), mean right atrial pressure (5 +/- 5 mmHg vs 8 +/- 6 mmHg, p less than 0,01) was observed: there was a moderate fall in mean systemic arterial pressure (13%, p less than 0,001). There was a significant fall in pulmonary resistance (27%, p less than 0,001). The cardiac index increased (2,8 +/- 0,5 l/min/m2, p less than 0,001) and systemic resistance fell by 25% (p less than 0,001). The heart rate decreased by an average of 7 beats/min (p less than 0,02). The treatment was stopped in one patient because of the inefficacy of captopril at 100 mg per dose. The average daily dose in the 18 patients on long-term treatment was 212,5 +/- 106,8 mg. At the second month, the haemodynamic parameters were remeasured before the morning dose of captopril. The effects observed after the single dose were maintained apart from the systemic blood pressure, heart rate and systemic resistances which had returned to the value observed before administration of captopril. The mean pulmonary capillary pressure was significantly lower than before treatment but was higher than after the single dose.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)