WEDNESDAY, Oct. 3 (HealthDay News) -- In patients with Marfan syndrome, a connective tissue disorder, perindopril reduces arterial stiffness and aortic root diameter, which often lead to aortic rupture and premature death, researchers report in the Oct. 3 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Bronwyn A. Kingwell, Ph.D., from the Baker Heart Research Institute in Central Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and colleagues randomized 17 patients with Marfan syndrome on standard β-blocker treatment to 8 mg/day of the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor perindopril, or placebo for 24 weeks.
The researchers found that the perindopril group had significantly reduced arterial stiffness, as assessed by systemic arterial compliance, and central and peripheral pulse wave velocities. Perindopril also significantly reduced aortic root diameters as assessed by transthoracic echocardiography. Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) was also reduced in the perindopril group, the report indicates.
"Perindopril reduced both aortic stiffness and aortic root diameter in patients with Marfan syndrome taking standard β-blocker therapy, possibly through attenuation of TGF-β signaling," Kingwell and colleagues conclude.
Abstract
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