title: Effects of calcium antagonists in patients with coronary disease and heart failure: left ventricular function following nisoldipine measured by radionuclide ventriculography.
abstract: Thirty-two patients with chronic heart failure were investigated with radionuclide ventriculography at rest and during exercise. The global ejection fraction (EF), ejection rate, ejection time, and filling rate were measured. The patients were subdivided into three subgroups: patients with extremely (< 25%), moderately (25-33%), and mildly decreased EF (33-40%). All patients were investigated by thallium-201 myocardial scintigraphy and the correlation between ejection parameters and infarct size was investigated. In a random protocol 17 patients (14 men, 3 women, mean age of 54.6 years) received beta-acetyldigoxin at a dose of 0.3 mg daily over 4 weeks, 15 patients (13 men, 2 women, mean age of 58.2 years) received nisoldipine at a dose of 20 mg daily. Patients on digitalis showed a further lowering of the extremely decreased EF (-1%), but in patients with moderately decreased EF, digoxin produced a marked increase in EF of +8% (p < 0.001). In mildly decreased EF, there was no significant change (+0.3%, n.s.). Nisoldipine produced an increase in pump function (+2%) in the group with extremely decreased EF up to 9% in some individual cases. A significant increase (+5%) was achieved in moderately decreased EF, while patients with mildly decreased EF did not respond. Thus, nisoldipine may be indicated in the treatment of heart failure after repeated myocardial infarctions, in particular in patients with severely decreased ejection fraction.
mesh_terms: D000113:Acetyldigoxins / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006321:Heart / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000150:complications*; D015737:Nisoldipine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015635:Radionuclide Ventriculography; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D000113:Acetyldigoxins; D015737:Nisoldipine