Carvedilol: something else than a simple betablocker?

Carvedilol is a cardiovascular drug of multifaceted therapeutic potential, with beta-blocker and vasodilatative activity. These actions confer to the above mentioned betablocker some beneficial properties on several processes involving cardiovascular system. Carvedilol provides haemodynamic, antiischemic, antiproliferative and antiarrhytmic benefits, for its antioxidant neurohumoral and electrophysiological effects. All these actions provide the basis for usefulness of the drug in the treatment of hypertension, coronary heart disease, and congestive heart failure. In this review we report the beneficial properties of Carvedilol and we analyze the rational clinical use of this betablocker taking special attention on recent clinical trial in heart failure where it appears an evidence supporting an important, favourable effect of the drug.