Possibilities for the correction of daily blood pressure profile in patients with severe heart failure: A FUTOR (furosemide/torsemide) trial

Objective. To compare the effect of torasemide (Td) and furosemide (Fd) on the daily blood pressure profile (DBPP), blood pressure (BP) during aclive orthostatic test (OT) and dynamics in brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels in patients with heart failure (HF) III-IV (NYHA). Design and methods. 40 patients with stable HF III-IV (NYHA); left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤ 40 %; 90 ≤ systolic BP ≤ 140 mmHg; 60 ≤ diastolic BP ≤ 90 mmHg were included. Clinical status, 6-minute walking test (SWT), BNP and aldosterone levels, quality of live (QL), DBPP, OT were assessed. The patients were randomized into two groups: torasemide group TG (n = 20) receiving Td, and furosemide group (FG) (n = 20) receiving Fd. Results. The patients with lower BP during OT and DBPP had higher level of BNP. The low BP levels complicated with drug titration till the recommended doses for HF reatment. We observed the decrease of HF functional class, BNP level, the increased distance in SWT in both groups. TG showed higher BP levels and less BP decrease during OT that allowed us to achieve the highest β-blockers doses and significantly improve QL. Conclusions. 1. Patients with HF with lower BP during DBPP and more expressed decrease of BP in OT had a higher BNP level. 2. The Fd replacement by Td results in the decrease of orthostatic reaction, optimization of SBPP and more significant positive changes in QL. 3. The replacement Fd by Td allows significantly increasing the doses of β-blockers.