Exercise performance in patients with uncomplicated essential hypertension. Effects of nifedipine-induced acute blood pressure reduction.

In untreated patients with uncomplicated essential hypertension, exercise induces an abnormal increase in blood pressure; the influences of this increase on exercise were evaluated by a cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPX) performed in control conditions (step 1) and during acute blood pressure reduction (step 2). Patients were classified as (1) normotensive (resting diastolic blood pressure [BPd] less than 90 mm Hg; n = 14), (2) mildly hypertensive (BPd of 90 to 104 mm Hg; n = 9), and (3) moderately to severely hypertensive (BPd greater than or equal to 105 mm Hg; n = 16). For the three groups, peak mean blood pressure during exercise was 125 +/- 5 mm Hg (mean +/- SEM), 144 +/- 3 mm Hg (p less than 0.01 vs normotensive), and 161 +/- 4 mm Hg (p less than 0.01 vs normotensive and p less than 0.01 vs mild hypertension), respectively. Oxygen consumption (VO2) at peak exercise and at ventilatory anaerobic threshold was 26.1 +/- 1.1 and 17.2 +/- 0.5 ml/min/kg, 25.4 +/- 1.1 and 16.9 +/- 0.8 ml/min/kg, and 26.4 +/- 1.3 and 17.5 +/- 1.2 ml/min/kg in normotensive subjects, those with mild hypertension, and those with moderate to severe hypertension, respectively. Fourteen normotensive subjects, six with mild hypertension, and nine with moderate to severe hypertension participated to step 2 (nifedipine vs placebo, double-blind crossover). Nifedipine reduced blood pressure at rest and at peak exercise in those with hypertension. Peak exercise VO2 was unaffected by nifedipine in both normotensive subjects and those with hypertension. With nifedipine, ventilatory anaerobic threshold occurred earlier and at a lower VO2 in mild and in moderate to severe hypertension (delta VO2 = -1.9 and -2.4 ml/min/kg, respectively). These findings might be due to nifedipine-induced redistribution of blood flow during exercise and might be the reason for the complaint of weakness after blood pressure reduction in hypertensive subjects.

Hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension: nifedipine only temporarily reduces pulmonary artery pressure and vascular tone.

Fifteen patients affected by hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension were studied before and during (1st and 8th week) nifedipine (180 mg/die) treatment. Nifedipine reduced pulmonary pressure (33 +/- 4 vs 26 +/- 3 mmHg, p less than 0.02) after 1 week of treatment; this pulmonary hypotensive effect was due to a reduction of pulmonary vascular tone as assessed by a reduction of Y-intercept on the pulmonary pressure/flow plot drawn from invasive recordings of pulmonary pressure/cardiac output obtained during exercise. Oxygen breathing effects on pulmonary pressure were also measured with and without nifedipine. Oxygen significantly reduced pulmonary pressure only in the absence of nifedipine regardless of the severity of pulmonary hypertension. Therefore nifedipine is not suitable for long-term treatment of hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension and inhibits O2 capability to reduce pulmonary pressure.

Nifedipine reduces pulmonary pressure and vascular tone during short- but not long-term treatment of pulmonary hypertension in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

We evaluated in patients suffering from COPD-related pulmonary hypertension whether nifedipine therapy lowers acutely and chronically pulmonary vascular pressure and resistance and whether pulmonary transmural pressure may be further lowered by the combined use of nifedipine and oxygen. Changes of the pulmonary vascular tone were determined on the pulmonary driving pressure/flow curve, which was generated by upright exercise. Fifteen patients with COPD and mean pulmonary pressure greater than or equal to 20 mm Hg were studied at control (Week 0) and after 1 wk of nifedipine treatment (180 mg daily, Week 1). It was possible to pursue the same nifedipine daily dosage for 2 months in 10 patients, who were re-evaluated after 8 wk of treatment and after nifedipine withdrawal the following week. At Week 1, mean pulmonary transmural pressure was reduced (32.8 +/- 4.1 versus 27.3 +/- 2.8 mm Hg, mean +/- SE, p less than 0.05) via active pulmonary vasodilation because the pulmonary driving pressure/flow curve was shifted right and downward. Both mean transmural pulmonary pressure lowering effect and active pulmonary vasodilatation regressed during long-term nifedipine treatment. Oxygen reduced pulmonary transmural pressure (32.8 +/- 4.1 versus 28.6 +/- 2.9 mm Hg, p less than 0.05, Week 0); however, this effect always disappeared during nifedipine treatment. We conclude that nifedipine should not be used as long-term treatment for COPD-related pulmonary hypertension and that nifedipine inhibits the oxygen capability to reduce pulmonary pressure.

Afterload reduction: a comparison of captopril and nifedipine in dilated cardiomyopathy.

Nifedipine and captopril are potent vasodilators and may be expected to help left ventricular failure by reducing afterload. Nifedipine (20 mg three times a day) and captopril (50 mg three times a day) were added to an optimal regimen of digitalis and diuretics in a double blind crossover trial in 18 cases of dilated cardiomyopathy. New York Heart Association functional class rating symptoms and exercise tolerance times improved on captopril but not on nifedipine. The reduction in pulmonary capillary wedge pressure and the increase of cardiac output on captopril indicated that the augmented functional capacity may have resulted in part from an improved performance of the left ventricle. Although there were comparable decreases in systemic vascular resistance and presumably in impedence to ejection by the left ventricle on both drugs, the dimensions of the ventricular cavity were found to be reduced by captopril and augmented by nifedipine, and only captopril reduced the afterload (wall stress). In addition, the force-length relation (between left ventricular end systolic stress and end systolic diameter) was shifted to the left of baseline by captopril and to the right by nifedipine, suggesting that muscle contractility was reduced by nifedipine and not by captopril. These results suggest that nifedipine and captopril have different effects on afterload and contractility and these may account for the different effects of these drugs on the performance of the heart and clinical responses.

Clinical use of calcium channel blockers as ventricular unloading agents.

Calcium channel blockers relax the arterial smooth vasculature and lower blood pressure when it is elevated because of excessive vasoconstriction. They may be regarded as ventricular unloading agents. Nifedipine (11 cases, Group 1) and verapamil (12 cases, Group 2) were tested in hypertensive patients with cardiac enlargement (LV diastolic diameter greater than or equal to 60 mm), ECG signs of LV strain, lung congestion and dyspnea at rest, in an acute (nifedipine 20 mg; verapamil 160 mg) and 1-month (nifedipine 20 mg q.i.d.; verapamil 160 mg t.i.d.) therapeutic evaluation. In the acute study nifedipine reduced systemic vascular resistance (SVR), mean arterial pressure (MAP), mean pulmonary wedge pressure (PWP) and LV diastolic diameter (DD) and improved cardiac index (CI) and Vcf. In Group 2 verapamil reduced SVR and MAP, improved CI and was not effective on PWP, LV DD and Vcf. Verapamil was discontinued in 2 patients who developed severe dyspnea at rest after 3-4 days of continued oral treatment. At the end of the trial Vcf, PWP and LV DD were unchanged in the remaining subjects in Group 2 despite persistent pressure reduction. In Group 1 all of the patients had relief of dyspnea and lung congestion, reduction of heart size, persistent decrease of MAP and PWP, and improvement in Vcf. The only side effect was ankle edema in 4 cases. A less potent vasodilating action of verapamil and a predominant depression in cardiac contractility may account for the different results with the two drugs, in spite of a shared antihypertensive effect. These findings prove that functional changes in the failing hypertensive heart may differ after nifedipine compared to verapamil as a result of interaction and relative preponderance of influences on afterload and contractility.