Clevidipine compared with nitroglycerin for blood pressure control in coronary artery bypass grafting: a randomized double-blind study.

PURPOSE: We tested the hypothesis that clevidipine, a rapidly acting dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker, is not inferior to nitroglycerin (NTG) in controlling blood pressure before cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) during coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). METHODS: In this double-blind study from October 4, 2003 to April 26, 2004, 100 patients undergoing CABG with CPB were randomized at four centres to receive intravenous infusions of clevidipine (0.2-8 µg·kg(-1)·min(-1)) or NTG (0.4 µg·kg(-1)·min(-1) to a clinician-determined maximum dose rate) from induction of anesthesia through 12 hr postoperatively. The study drug was titrated in the pre-CPB period with the aim of maintaining mean arterial pressure (MAP) within ± 5 mmHg of a clinician-predetermined target. The primary endpoint was the area under the curve (AUC) for the total time each patient's MAP was outside the target range from drug initiation to the start of CPB, normalized per hour (AUCMAP-D). The predefined non-inferiority criterion for the primary endpoint was a 95% confidence interval (CI) upper limit no greater than 1.50 for the geometric means ratio between clevidipine and NTG. RESULTS: Total mean [standard deviation (SD)] dose pre-bypass was 4.5 (4.7) mg for clevidipine and 6.9 (5.4) mg for NTG (P < 0.05). The geometric mean AUCMAP-D for clevidipine was 283 mmHg·min·hr(-1) (n = 45) and for NTG was 292 mmHg·min·hr(-1) (n = 48); the geometric means ratio was 0.97 (95% CI 0.74 to 1.27). The geometric mean AUCMAP-D during aortic cannulation was 357.7 mmHg·min·hr(-1) for clevidipine compared with 190.5 mmHg·min·hr(-1) for NTG. Mean (SD) heart rate with clevidipine was 76.0 (13.8) beats·min(-1) compared with 81.5 (14.4) beats·min(-1) for NTG. There were no clinically important differences between groups in adverse events. CONCLUSION: During CABG, clevidipine was not inferior to NTG for blood pressure control pre-bypass.