Rationale and design of a randomized, controlled multicentre clinical trial to evaluate the effect of bromocriptine on left ventricular function in women with peripartum cardiomyopathy.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is an idiopathic heart disease that develops in the last month of pregnancy and/or the first months following delivery in previously healthy women and may lead to acute heart failure. A cleaved fragment of the nursing hormone prolactin is considered essential in the pathophysiology of PPCM. To date, no specific therapy has been tested for PPCM in a randomized controlled trial of adequate size.

Aims

The purpose of this trial is to investigate the safety of the dopamin-D2-receptor agonist bromocriptine and its effects on left ventricular (LV) function in women with PPCM.

Methods

This is an 11 center German trial with a prospective randomized controlled open-label design. The trial enrolls females with newly diagnosed PPCM acco

SUBMITTER: Haghikia A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4623094 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature