New Positive Inotropic Agents in the Treatment of Congestive Heart Failure

The treatment of congestive heart failure has traditionally centered on the judicious use of rest, diuretics, cardiac glycosides, and restriction of dietary sodium.1 More recently, manipulation of cardiac preload and afterload with vasodilating drugs has become a widely accepted adjunctive therapy.2 3 4 Despite the vigorous application of all these approaches, many patients with congestive heart failure remain symptomatically compromised, and their prognosis continues to be very poor.5 6 7 8 Since congestive heart failure is usually caused by impaired ventricular systolic function, considerable effort has been devoted to the search for pharmacologic agents capable of augmenting cardiac contractility.9 The only currently available and widely . . .