Hypertension drug may reduce symptoms of genetic heart disease

Washington, Dec 30 (ANI): A new study has found that a drug used to treat hypertension might also help in reducing symptoms of genetic heart disease.

The research team led by Dr. Jiri Krupicka of Na Homolce Hospital, Prague has found that long-term use of candesartan drug can effectively decrease symptoms of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HCM, a genetic heart disease.

This disease is caused by mutations in a number of different genes, and different gene mutations may result in more or less severe symptoms. It often leads to thickening of heart muscle, especially in the left ventricle

For the study, the researchers conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized study on the long-term administration of candesartan in patients with HCM.

They found that candesartan reduced the symptoms of HCM, including decreasing the thickening of the left ventricle.

This effect was found to be dependent on the underlying gene mutations in each patient. They did not observe any adverse effects of candesartan use over the course of their study.

These data suggest that effectiveness of angiotensin II receptor blockers, such as candesartan, on HCM may vary depending on the nature of the causative mutation and that the treatment protocol, therefore, should be customized to individual patients.

The study appears in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. (ANI)