Prolonged bed rest in the treatment of the dilated heart.

ALMOST 30 years ago, we began to utilize prolonged bed rest in the treatment of persistent cardiac dilatation and intractable congestive heart failure due to myocardial degeneration. This approach was chosen because of a recognition of the limited efficacy of available therapy. It was applied in selected patients. During subsequent years various theoretic considerations (fig. 1) reinforced our clinical impression that cardiac dilatation is intrinsically pernicious and that prolonged bed