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Growth Hormone Helps the Failing Heart
Reuters Health
Monday, January 19, 2004
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Growth hormone treatment may do more than its name implies. According to Greek researchers, growth hormone seems to benefit people with heart failure by improving the functioning of their heart, enabling them to be more active.
The team says it may even reverse the progressive nature of the condition.
Writing in the European Heart Journal, Dr. Stamatis Adamopoulos and colleagues at the Onassis Surgery Center in Athens, note that abnormal immune reactions may contribute to chronic heart failure. To see if the immune-modulating effects of growth hormone might be helpful, they studied 12 patients with moderate to severe chronic heart failure.
All the participants were being treated with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and diuretics. The team compared the effects of supplementary treatment with 4 international units (IU) of growth hormone every second day over a period of 12 weeks, to that of no treatment over a further 12-week period.
Growth hormone therapy led to a significant reduction in blood levels of various inflammatory factors and a rise in an anti-inflammatory compound.
There was also a significant improvement heart function and a better uptake of oxygen during exercise testing.
The researchers conclude that the use of growth hormone may become an "important" option for treating heart failure, "by attenuating or even reversing its progression."
SOURCE: European Heart Journal, December 15, 2004.
Reuters Health
Monday, January 19, 2004
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Growth hormone treatment may do more than its name implies. According to Greek researchers, growth hormone seems to benefit people with heart failure by improving the functioning of their heart, enabling them to be more active.
The team says it may even reverse the progressive nature of the condition.
Writing in the European Heart Journal, Dr. Stamatis Adamopoulos and colleagues at the Onassis Surgery Center in Athens, note that abnormal immune reactions may contribute to chronic heart failure. To see if the immune-modulating effects of growth hormone might be helpful, they studied 12 patients with moderate to severe chronic heart failure.
All the participants were being treated with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and diuretics. The team compared the effects of supplementary treatment with 4 international units (IU) of growth hormone every second day over a period of 12 weeks, to that of no treatment over a further 12-week period.
Growth hormone therapy led to a significant reduction in blood levels of various inflammatory factors and a rise in an anti-inflammatory compound.
There was also a significant improvement heart function and a better uptake of oxygen during exercise testing.
The researchers conclude that the use of growth hormone may become an "important" option for treating heart failure, "by attenuating or even reversing its progression."
SOURCE: European Heart Journal, December 15, 2004.
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