Cardiotonic agents in the management of chronic cardiac failure.

Heart failure is a syndrome with distinct clinical signs and symptoms. The severity of cardiac failure and a deterioration in functional capacity can be determined by a progressive exercise test and by the noninvasive determination of maximum oxygen uptake. In patients with severe cardiac failure refractory to medica therapy, particularly those with cardiomyopathy or ischemic heart disease, survival is seriously compromised, resembling the most serious malignancy. Cardiotonic agents may be useful in improving the quality of life, provided that they are effective and are given sufficiently early in the course of the disease. Dobutamine given intravenously augments cardiac performance and improves renal function in patients with very advanced disease refractory to multiple diuretics; long-term survival, however, remains dismal. Amrinone appears to be a promising agent for the long-term treatment of chronic cardiac failure; the utility of pirbuterol, an oral catecholamine analog, remains to be determined.