Evaluation of symptomatic improvements observed by switching to alacepril from other ACE-Inhibitors in dogs with mitral valve regurgitation

Abstract

Alacepril is an ACE-inhibitor (ACE-I), which has unique properties including peripheral sympathoinhibitory effect and negative chronotropic effect, and it is suspected to have a superior cough suppressive effect in comparison to other ACE-Is. The purpose of the study was to evaluate whether switching to alacepril from other ACE-Is will alleviate the clinical symptoms of congestive heart failure (CHF) caused by mitral valve regurgitation (MR). The prospective clinical study included 73 client-owned dogs with MR that had been treated with ACE-Is other than alacepril for over a period of one month. The ACE-Is were replaced by alacepril and observed for four weeks. Parameters including heart rate (HR), body weight (BW), and general clinical conditions, such as activeness, appetite, responsiveness, and frequency of cough, were recorded before, and at two and four weeks after the switch. Each parameter was then statistically analyzed. Within four weeks of the switch, HR revealed a significant reduction, and clinical symptoms including activeness, appetite, responsiveness, and the frequency of cough showed significant improvements (p<0.001). Under this study condition, switching to alacepril from other ACE-Is has shown to reduce HR, and improve the clinical symptoms of CHF, in particular the frequency of cough.