This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related article  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Adverse Effects  • Congestive Heart Failure/ Cardiomyopathy  • Alert me on articles by topic

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

The review article by Amabile and Spencer¹ on medications that should be avoided in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) was exceptionally well written and informative. However, the authors did not include the anti–tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) drugs etanercept and infliximab among the anti-inflammatory medications that should be avoided in patients with CHF. Although these drugs were initially examined as a possible treatment for CHF, studies have shown that they may worsen the clinical condition of patients with heart failure. In the Anti-TNF Therapy Against Congestive Heart Failure (ATTACH) trial, the combined risk of death from any cause or hospitalization for heart failure was significantly increased among the group of patients randomized to 10 mg/kg of infliximab.² The US Food and Drug Administration’s MedWatch program receives mandatory postmarketing reports of adverse events from manufacturers and voluntary reports from health professionals, consumers, and others. Kwon et al³ described 47 patients from . . . [Full Text of this Article]

AUTHOR INFORMATION
Roy C. Ziegelstein, MD

RELATED ARTICLE

Keeping Your Patient With Heart Failure Safe: A Review of Potentially Dangerous Medications
Celene M. Amabile and Anne P. Spencer
Arch Intern Med. 2004;164(7):709-720.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT