title: Calcium blocking agents in pediatric emergency care.
abstract: Blocking calcium ion entry into tissue cells appears to have therapeutic benefits in various diseases and symptoms. In the emergency department, as well as in the pediatric intensive care unit, the pediatrician often encounters life-threatening clinical episodes for which the safest, quickest, and most efficient treatment is required. Thus, being familiar with a large variety of emergency therapeutic options, including the use of CBAs, is important. In many medical centers, CBAs have already become the first line of drugs for converting PSVT into normal sinus rhythm (verapamil) and for ameliorating malignant hypertension (nifedipine). The increasing evidence that nimodipine effectively decreases the cerebral damage after head trauma and intracranial hemorrhage will also probably turn this compound into one of the drugs readily available in the emergency department. CBAs will continue to be thoroughly investigated, allowing more new therapeutic applications in pediatric emergency care.
authors.affiliation: Child Neurology Unit, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Shahar
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sagy
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Koren
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Barzilay
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002312:Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic / Q000188:drug therapy; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004630:Emergencies; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy; D007223:Infant; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy
chemical_list: D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers