title: Limited usefulness of intermittent nitroglycerin patches in stable angina.
abstract: The efficacy of continuous and intermittent nitroglycerin patches (10 mg/day) was compared in a randomized, placebo-controlled trial in 36 patients with stable angina and reproducible, exercise-induced ST depression. Intermittent treatment was administered either 18 or 14 h/day with an intermission of 6 h or 10 h, respectively. Exercise tests were performed during the last 2 h of patch application. Compared with placebo, neither continuous nitroglycerin nor the two intermittent regimens prolonged total treadmill time or time to 1 mm ST depression. No treatment eliminated exercise-induced ST depression in greater than 1 of the 36 patients. Time to angina was prolonged (by 40 +/- 66 s) only during the "10 h off" treatment (p = 0.001); time to angina increased by greater than or equal to 20% in 13 patients. Responders to treatment could be predicted by a short history of angina (p less than 0.05) and a time to angina less than or equal to 250 s during the placebo test. For each treatment, greater than or equal to 25 of the patients reported headache; 4 additional patients dropped out because of severe headache and 2 others because of a coronary event in a washout period. Thus, in most patients with stable angina, side effects outweight any benefit demonstrable with this therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Montreal Heart Institute, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: D D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Waters
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Juneau
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gossard
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Choquette
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brien
mesh_terms: D000279:Administration, Cutaneous; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000139:chemically induced; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D005996:Nitroglycerin / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects
chemical_list: D005996:Nitroglycerin