Mithilesh Dronavalli

Mechanisms of Ace Inhibitors in Preventing Mi and Heart Failure: an Application of Biostatistics in Elucidating the Mechanism of Action of a Widely Used Class of Cardiovascular Drugs Mithilesh Dronavalli

The book elucidates potential mechanisms of action for Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Inhibitors in preventing myocardial infarction and heart failure. It analyses a clinical trial testing the effect of ACE inhibitors in changing state of the art biomarkers, such as platelet aggregation and NO responsiveness. It further develops models to predict these biomarker values based on clinical data in patients where they have not been previously measured. This method was used on the SOLVD clinic trial dataset. The clinical relevance of these novel biomarkers and wether baseline biomarker values influenced ACE inhibitor effectiveness were tested. It is an interesting application of biostatistics in determining the mechanistic action for a widely used but not fully understood class of drugs. This book is useful for clinicians, cardiovascular scientists and epidemiologists.