Ronnie Willenheimer, MD, PhD

Standard congestive heart failure treatment begins with an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor to which a beta-blocker is added once the target dose of the ACE inhibitor has been reached. We compared morbidity and mortality between standard treatment and treatment using the reverse sequence, that is, the beta-blocker bisoprolol was given to patients first, followed by the ACE inhibitor enalapril. Results showed that both sequence strategies were safe and effective, with a survival trend in favor of the bisoprolol-first strategy.