[Role of beta-blockers in the treatment of cardiac insufficiency].

Despite Beta-blockade therapy has been considered as an absolute contraindication in the treatment of heart failure, it has been shown that they could have a beneficial effect, provided that they were introduced at very low dose, and very progressively in addition of the traditional treatment. The advances in the understanding of the neuro-hormonal mechanisms of heart failure have modified the therapeutic strategy: the deleterious effect of the activation of the sympathetic nervous system on the myocardium has served as the rationale for randomized clinical trials comparing beta-blockade to placebo: the current data are promising, suggesting a beneficial effect on survival as well as on quality of life. However, these results have to be confirmed by larger trials, currently underway, before to consider that beta-blockade should definitely be incorporated in the treatment of heart failure.