Orally administered isosorbide dinitrate in patients with and without left ventricular failure due to acute myocardial infarction.

The oral effectiveness of 10 mg followed by 20 mg of isosorbide dinitrate in 21 patients with acute mycardial infarction was studied over a period of 13 hours. The patients were grouped according to initial left ventricular filling pressure: group I, pressure less than 20 mm Hg, and group II, pressure more than 20 mm Hg. Patients in group II had left ventricular failure. In both groups isosorbide dinitrate resulted in a significant decrease in pulmonary arterial pressure. The left ventricular filling pressure decreased in group I from 13.6 +/- 4.0 to 7.1 +/- 2.6 mm Hg (mean +/- 1 standard deviation) and in group II from 26.9 +/- 4.6 to 19.0 +/- 3.6 mm Hg (P less than 0.001). Cardiac output decreased in group I from 5.1 +/- 1.0 to 4.5 +/- 0.9 liters/min, whereas in group II it increased significantly from 3.5 +/- 0.8 to 4.1 to 0.9 liters/min (P less than 0.001). In both groups, peripheral arterial blood pressure decreased (P less than 0.60). Heart rate remained constant. Whether cardiac output increased or decreased was found to be dependent on the initial left ventricular filling pressure. In patients with an initially high value (above 20 mm Hg), the increase in cardiac output is probably due to the reduction of afterload. An additional factor may be the decrease in left ventricular filling pressure, which leads to an improved blood supply in the affected mural segments as a result of the decrease in the extravascular component of the coronary resistance. Significant changes in cardiac output and left ventricular filling pressure were achieved 3 to 5 hours after oral administration of isosorbide dinitrate. Clinical signs of failure were less pronounced. Isosorbide dinitrate is, therefore, a therapeutic agent in the treatment of left ventricular failure due to acute myocardial infarction.

[Recurrent fever of unknown etiology lasting more than 6 months. Report on 85 patients]. / Uber 6 Monate bestehendes rezidivierendes Fieber ungeklärter Ursache. Bericht über 85 Patienten.

85 patients having recurrent fever of unclarified aetiology of more than 38.5 degrees C for more than 6 months were examined in a prospective study. Of these, 10 had an inflammation due to pathogens, 12 a malignant disease, 15 a collagenous or inflammatory vascular disease, while 9 had various diseases, 5 a familial Mediterranean fever and 18 a "periodic fever". In 16 patients, in most of whom the course of the disease extended over several years, the cause of the fever could not be clarified. Among the patients with polycyclic fever over many years or decades, alternating with symptom-free intervals, one can differentiate especially the systemic Still's syndrome, which also occurs in adults and which is identical with the so-called subsepsis allergica, the familial Mediterranean fever and the "periodic fever". There are no satisfactory pointers towards the existence of a relapsing fever of its own caused by an increase of unconjugated aetiocholanolone in the plasma ("aetiocholanolone fever").

[Vegetative hyperthermia: a thermoregulation disorder or a variant from the norm?]. / Vegetative Hyperthermie: Thermoregulationsstörung oder Variante der Norm?

A diagnosis of low-grade idiopathic fever was made in 85 women and 15 men, examined for subfebrile temperature of unknown origin, after organic disease had been excluded. Compared with 100 healthy control subjects these patients had inadequate movement-dependent temperature elevations with a usually pronounced discrepancy between the rectal temperature, predominantly more than 38 degrees C, and a normal or only slightly raised axillary temperature recorded after bodily movement. Other characteristics were that the elevated temperature was uninfluenced by antipyretic drugs. Almost all patients initially complained about general lassitude as well as frequently about atypical functional complaints and psychological symptoms. These observations indicate that low-grade fever is a functional syndrome due to a harmless faulty regulation of body temperature. In addition to a special constitutional reactivity, psychological factors and possibly previous febrile infections are likely to be involved as precipitating causes.

[Effect of nitroglycerin in acute myocardial infarction. III. Isosorbide dinitrate in patients with or without left-heart failure (author's transl)]. / Wirkung von Nitroglycerin beim akuten Myokardinfarkt. III. Isosorbiddinitrat bei Patienten mit und ohne Linksinsuffizienz

The oral effectiveness of isosorbide dinitrate (Isoket) was tested in 21 pateints with acute myocardial infarction. Patients were divided into two groups according to thier initial left-ventricular filling pressure (more or less than 20 mm Hg). In both groups there was a highly significant decrease in pulmonary artery pressure. In group I (less than 20 mm Hg) the left-ventricular filling pressure fell from 13.6 +/- 4.0 to 7.1 +/- 2.6 mm Hg, while in group II it fell from 26.9 +/- 4.6 to 19.0 +/- 3.6 mm Hg (P less than 0.001). The cardiac output fell in group I from 5.1 +/- 1.0 to 4.5 +/- 0.9 l/min, while in group II there was a significant rise from a low value (3.5 +/- 0.8 l/min) to 4.1 +/- 0.9 l/min (P less than 0.001). In both groups there was a slight but not significant fall in arterial blood pressure, while heart rate remained constant.

[The effect of nitroglycerin in patients with acute myocardial infarction. IV. Myocardon in patients with and without left ventricular failure (author's transl)]. / Wirkung von Nitroglyzerin beim akuten Myokardinfarkt. IV. Myocardon bei Patienten mit und ohne Linksinsuffizienz

Myocardon (1 tablet=0.5 mg Nitroglycerin, 100 mg Euphyllin, 29.7 mg Papaverin-hydrochlorid and 0.3 mg Atropinmethylnitrat, without phenobarbital) was given in a dosis of 3 and 6 tablets in patients with acute myocardial infarction. According to the initial value of left ventricular filling pressure (LVFP) the patients were divided into 2 groups: Group I with a LVFP below 20 mm Hg and group II with a LVFP above 20 mm Hg. In group II there was clinical evidence of left ventricular failure. In both groups a decrease in pulmonary artery pressure and especially in left ventricular filling pressure was observed (in group I from 13 +/- 4 to 8 +/- 3 mm Hg and in group II from 26 +/- 7 to 16 +/- 4 mm Hg). Heart rate and mean arterial pressure did not change. In group II cardiac output increased from 3.5 +/- 0.6 to 4.3 +/- 1.31/min, whereas in group I it decreased from 5.1 +/- 0.9 to 4.6 +/- 0.91/min. Like isosorbid dinitrate Myocardon is useful in the management of left ventricular failure in patients with acute myocardial infarction. Side effects were observed: in two patients vomiting and in one patient sickness. The main effect of Myocardon is probably due to nitroglycerin, which is part of the substance. In higher dosis Myocardon has to be given without phenobarbital. Myocardon is especially useful if in the case of headache after nitrates the drug has to be changed.