根據一項最新研究發現，一種用于治療燒心、返酸的非處方藥物，有助于降低慢性心臟功能衰竭(CHF)的不良后果。

日本國立心血管中心(NCVC, Suita, Japan)的研究人員進行了一項前瞻性臨床研究，涉及25例患有CHF和胃食管反流病(GERD)的患者，給予法莫替丁，這是一種組織胺h(2)阻滯劑，用于治療燒心癥狀；另外25例患者給予另外一種治療燒心的藥物替普瑞酮，該藥能夠通過分泌更多的粘液來包被和保護胃免受過多的胃酸損害。

24周之后，研究人員發現那些每日服用30mg法莫替丁的患者CHF的癥狀較輕。左心室舒張末和收縮末長度(LVDd和LVDs)、血漿B型促尿鈉肽(BNP)水平與未改變片斷縮短(FS)都有所下降。由于CHF導致的再次入院率在服用法莫替丁組明顯下降。與此相對照的是，替普瑞酮對CHF沒有作用。所有的患者都經過3位獨立心血管醫生的檢查，這些醫生并不知道治療方案，以確保無偏倚的檢查結果。這些研究結果發表在2006年10月3日《美國心臟病學期刊》之上。

 
Heartburn Drug Slows Chronic Heart Failure
 
An over-the-counter medication used to treat heartburn and acid reflux also appears to help decrease the debilitating effects of chronic heart failure (CHF), according to a new study.

Researchers at the Japanese National Cardiovascular Center (NCVC, Suita, Japan) conducted a prospective study in which 25 patients with both CHF and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) were given famotidine, a histamine h(2) blocker used to treat heartburn, and 25 patients were given an alternate heartburn medication called teprenone, which works by causing the stomach to secret more mucous to coat and protect itself against excess acid.
 
After 24 weeks, the researchers discovered that those patients receiving 30 mg doses of famotidine each day were displaying less-severe symptoms of CHF. Both left ventricular end-diastolic and end-systolic lengths (LVDd and LVDs, respectively) and the plasma B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels with unaltered fractional shortening (FS) were decreased. The frequency of re-admission because of worsening of CHF was lower in the famotidine group. In contrast, teprenone had no effects on CHF. All patients were examined by three independent cardiologists who were unaware of the treatment protocols to ensure unbiased results. The results of the study were published in the October 3, 2006, edition of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.