Long-term oral carvedilol in chronic heart failure

The long-term beta-blockade strategy with carvedilol, metoprolol succinate or bisoprolol is now strongly recommended to reduce the rates of mortality and morbidity in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). Although the benefits observed with such drugs are viewed as a class effect, theoretically, carvedilol might be superior to the other two agents, considering its unique pharmacological profile, which includes a more comprehensive antiadrenergic activity and potentially relevant ancillary properties. So far, carvedilol has been proven to be effective and safe in a broader range of CHF patients than metoprolol and bisoprolol. Moreover, a recent large clinical trial has shown a significantly greater survival benefit with carvedilol as directly compared with metoprolol tartrate. Therefore, carvedilol may be the preferred beta-blocking agent to treat patients with CHF.