Captopril Therapy in Dilated Cardiomyopathy in Childhood

In childhood dilated cardiomyopathy (CMP) which causes congestive heart failure with deterioration of the left ventricular functions, angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors have not been in routine usage. Despite a good experience of more than 10 years with adult patients, there is still paucity of data in the English literature regarding the use of ACE inhibitors in children with dilated CMP. In our study, we used captopril in 19 digitalized children with dilated CMP who were admitted to the Hacettepe University Pediatric Cardiology Department and studied for a period of 2 days-16 months (mean 8.2 months). Clinical, laboratory and echocardiographic results showed that catopril usage in a mean daily dose of 1.8 mg/kg for longer than 2 or 3 months led to improvement of left compared to baseline values, those obtained after the fifth month, the average ejection fraction rose from 31 % to 60 % (p<0.001) and fractional shortening from 14.5 % to 32.3 % (p<0.001). It is emphazised that children with dilated CMP would benefit from the routine use of captopril.