title: Diltiazem for long-term therapy of coronary arterial spasm.
abstract: The first 36 patients with coronary arterial spasm treated with diltiazem and followed up at the Stanford University Coronary Artery Spasm Clinic for 6 months or longer are described. There were 13 men and 23 women with a mean age of 50.2 years; the mean duration of angina was 36.1 months. All patients had angina at rest with a good or fail response to sublingual nitroglycerin. During a mean of 17.5 months of diltiazem therapy, the frequency of angina was reduced from a mean of 21.5 to 1.3 attacks/week. This 94 percent reduction in pain frequency occurred when either 240 or 360 mg of diltiazem was administered daily. Sixteen patients required the addition of isosorbide dinitrate to achieve a painfree state. Pain breakthrough occurred a mean of 1.7 times during the 17.5 month follow-up period but tended to be of short duration. Six patients had trace to 1+ pedal edema and no other adverse effects occurred. It is concluded that diltiazem is highly effective and well tolerated for the long-term prophylaxis and treatment of angina in patients with coronary spasm.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000188:drug therapy; D000788:Angina Pectoris, Variant / Q000188:drug therapy; D001552:Benzazepines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003329:Coronary Vasospasm / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004110:Diltiazem / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007548:Isosorbide Dinitrate / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D001552:Benzazepines; D004110:Diltiazem; D007548:Isosorbide Dinitrate