title: Improvement in exercise tolerance and immediate beta-adrenergic blockade with intranasal propranolol in patients with angina pectoris.
abstract: A new intranasal spray formulation of propranolol was developed to provide beta-adrenergic blocking medication on an immediate basis to patients with angina pectoris. The effects of this spray or placebo were assessed in 16 patients with effort-induced angina in a blinded, randomized, cross-over design study that compared placebo with intranasal propranolol spray (5 mg/puff) 15 minutes before exercise on a treadmill (Bruce protocol). One week later, each patient, acting as his/her own control, received the alternative treatment and repeated exercise. Mean plasma propranolol level with active therapy was 20 ng/ml. Patients with active spray demonstrated a significant increase in total exercise time than patients taking placebo (530 +/- 197 vs 460 +/- 177 seconds, p = 0.05), an increase in the time to 1 mm ST-segment depression on the electrocardiogram (384 +/- 202 vs 327 +/- 144 seconds, p < 0.05), and an increase in time to onset of angina (452 +/- 149 vs 363 +/- 175 seconds, p = 0.0005). There was a blunting of maximal exercise heart rate with active therapy compared with placebo (120 +/- 13 vs 133 +/- 17 beats/min, p < 0.01), blunting of maximal exercise systolic blood pressure (185 +/- 22 vs 194 +/- 21 mm Hg, p < 0.05), and blunting of peak double product (p < 0.0005), with more modest effects on resting heart rate. Propranolol spray is an effective approach for providing immediate beta blockade and improving exercise tolerance in patients with angina pectoris.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Landau
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Frishman
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Alturk
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Adjei-Poku
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fornasier-Bongo
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Furia
mesh_terms: D000281:Administration, Intranasal; D000368:Aged; D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000187:drug effects; D017079:Exercise Tolerance / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011433:Propranolol / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D011433:Propranolol