The impact of baseline left ventricular size and mitral regurgitation on reverse left ventricular remodelling in response to carvedilol: size doesn’t matter: Figure 1

Blockers have been shown to reverse left ventricular remodelling (LVR) and to reduce the severity of functional mitral regurgitation (FMR) in patients with chronic systolic heart failure. 1-4 It is unclear, however, to what extent the beneficial effects of b blockers on LVR or FMR are influenced by the severity of left ventricular dilatation or FMR at the time of commencement of b blocker treatment. We retrospectively analysed serial echocardiograms taken at baseline and two years after commencement of carvedilol in 257 patients with chronic heart failure caused by left ventricular systolic dysfunction.