Clinical trials update from the American College of Cardiology meeting: CARE-HF and the remission of heart failure, Women's Health Study, TNT, COMPASS-HF, VERITAS, CANPAP, PEECH and PREMIER.

This article provides information and a commentary on landmark trials presented at the American College of Cardiology meeting held in March 2005, relevant to the pathophysiology, prevention and treatment of heart failure. All reports should be considered as preliminary data, as analyses may change in the final publication. CARE-HF showed that Cardiac Re-synchronisation Therapy, administered in addition to expert pharmacological management, reduced all cause mortality and CV hospitalisation in patients with moderate or severe heart failure and cardiac dyssynchrony. The Women's Health Study showed no benefit of vitamin E supplementation or aspirin in the primary prevention of CV disease. The TNT study showed that reducing LDL cholesterol to levels lower than currently recommended, produced a 22% reduction in the incidence of major cardiovascular events. In COMPASS, an implantable device that continuously monitors intra-cardiac pressures was shown to be safe and to improve care in patients with chronic heart failure. Tezosentan failed to show benefit in patients with acute heart failure in the VERITAS study. The CANPAP study failed to show a benefit of continuous positive airway pressure on mortality and heart transplantation in heart failure patients with central sleep apnoea. EECP therapy improved exercise capacity but had no effect on peak VO2 in heart failure patients in the PEECH study. In the PREMIER study the matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor PG-116800 failed to prevent LV remodelling following myocardial infarction.