Drug therapy for congestive heart failure. Appropriate choices can prolong life.

The goals of therapy for congestive heart failure (CHF) are to improve quality of life and to prolong it. Improvement in patients with CHF can only be realized, however, if a multidisciplinary healthcare team can provide effective management in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. Inhibition of compensatory mechanisms that perpetuate CHF is the first step in achieving treatment goals. Combination therapy with diuretics, digoxin (Lanoxicaps, Lanoxin), and vasodilators is used for patients with symptomatic heart failure and volume overload. Because angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors improve survival rates more than other vasodilators, they are preferred in patients with systolic dysfunction.