Abstract: AIM: To estimate the efficacy of milrnone in treatment of congestive heart failure.METHODS: 122 cases of chronic congestive heart failure with different etiology were divided into milrinone groupand dabutamine grouprandomly.Milrinone groupaccepted milrinone(10mg·d^-1)for 5 days,and dabutamine groupaccepted dabutamine(160 mg ·d^-1)for 5 days.The efficacy of treatments was evaluated.RESULTS: The effectiveness rates of cardiac function improvement were 93.9% and76.7% in milrinone groupand dabutamine group,respectively(p<0.05).The cardiac function improvement accompanied by the heart rate decrease and stable blood pressure in milrinone group.CONCLUSION: Milrinone is an effective drug for chronic congestive heart failure.

Key words: milrnone, chronic congestive heart failure, dabutamine