Researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine have shown that probenecid, a drug long used to treat gout, may be able to improve heart function in adult patients who experience heart failure. The drug improved the two main ways in how the heart functions. It improves how the heart contracts and how it relaxes.
Patients were offered probenecid as part of a randomized, double-blind, crossover and placebo-controlled single-center clinical trial. Patients, who averaged 57 years of age, were enrolled during four-week periods. They were required to undergo an echocardiogram, an electrocardiogram and six-minute endurance test along with other assessments, explains Rubinstein, a UC Health cardiologist and member of the UC Heart, Lung and Vascular Institute.
Researchers examined probenecid in animal heart cells and found it improved how well the heart uses calcium, an important component in cardiac muscle contraction. Heart failure occurs when the heart pump is not strong enough to move blood throughout the body and meet the body's needs for oxygen.
Left ventricular assist devices, pacemakers, heart transplants and medications are available to treat heart failure patients, but outcomes for patients with heart failure are still worse than outcomes for the vast majority of cancer patients, probenecid drug may change this.
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