Vascular system Vasodilator drugs

Nitroprusside [nye troe PRUSS ide] is administered intravenously, and causes prompt vasodilation, with reflex tachycardia. It is capable of reducing blood pressure in all patients, regardless of the cause of hypertension. The drug has little effect outside the vascular system, acting equally on arterial and venous smooth muscle. [Note Because nitroprusside also acts on the veins, it can reduce cardiac preload.] Nitroprusside is metabolized rapidly (t1/2 of minutes) and requires continuous infusion to maintain its hypotensive action. Sodium nitroprusside exerts few adverse effects except for those of hypotension caused by overdose. Nitroprusside metabolism results in cyanide ion production, although cyanide toxicity is rare and can be effectively treated with an infusion of sodium thiosulfate to produce thiocyanate, which is less toxic and is eliminated by the kidneys (Figure 19.14). [Note Nitroprusside is poisonous if given orally because of its hydrolysis to cyanide.]... 

The rationale for the use of oral vasodilator drugs in the pharmacotherapy of CHF derived from the experience with the parenteral agents phentolamine and nitroprusside in patients with severe heart failure and elevated systemic vascular resistance. Although a number of vasodilators may improve symptoms in heart failure, only the hydralazine-isosorbide dinitrate combination and antagonists of the renin-angiotensin system (ACE inhibitors and ATj receptor blockers) have been shown to improve survival in prospective randomized trials. Table 33-1 summarizes some properties of vasodilators used to treat heart failure. 

Patients with left atrial hypertension may have an elevated pulmonary vascular resistance because the cardiac index is low, the pulmonary vasculature is constricted, or there is fixed pulmonary vascular obstructive disease with a reduction in recruitable lung vessels. Peroperative assessment may be aimed at increasing cardiac output with drugs such as dobutamine or by combining vasodilation and an increase in cardiac output with drugs such as nitroprusside or prostacyclin. The use of catecholamines or systemic vasodilators is not without risk, especially in patients with left ventricular outflow tract obstruction, as in two of our patients, or in patients with... 

Vasodilator drugs relax the smooth muscle in blood vessels, which causes the vessels to dilate. Dilation of arterial vessels leads to a reduction in systemic vascular resistance, which leads to a fall in arterial blood pressure. Dilation of venous vessels decreases venous blood pressure. 

Most blood vessels receive no direct innervation from the parasympathetic system. However, parasympathetic nerve stimulation dilates coronary arteries, and sympathetic cholinergic nerves cause vasodilation in the skeletal muscle vascular bed (see Chapter 6). Atropine can block this vasodilation. Furthermore, almost all vessels contain endothelial muscarinic receptors that mediate vasodilation (see Chapter 7). These receptors are readily blocked by antimuscarinic drugs. At toxic doses, and in some individuals at normal doses, antimuscarinic agents cause cutaneous vasodilation, especially in the upper portion of the body. The mechanism is unknown. 

Systemic administration of endothelin receptor antagonists or endothelin-converting enzyme inhibitors causes vasodilation and decreases arterial pressure in humans and experimental animals. Intra-arterial administration of the drugs also causes slow-onset forearm vasodilation in humans. These observations provide evidence that the endothelin system participates in the regulation of vascular tone, even under resting conditions. The activity of the system is higher in males than in females. It increases with age, an effect that can be counteracted by regular aerobic exercise. 

The calcium channel blockers inhibit the entrance of calcium into cardiac and smooth muscle cells of the coronary and systemic arterial beds. All calcium channel blockers are therefore vasodilators that cause a decrease in smooth muscle tone and vascular resistance. (See p. 187 for a description of the mechanism of action of this group of drugs.) At clinical doses, these agents affect primarily the resistance of vascular smooth muscle and the myocardium. [Note Verapamil mainly affects the myocardium, whereas nifedipine exerts a greater effect on smooth muscle in the peripheral vasculature. Diitiazem is intermediate in its actions.]... 

Arterial blood pressure is the product of cardiac output and systemic vascular resistance. Conditions that may lower blood pressure in the critically ill include cardiac failure or hypovolemia (by lowering of cardiac output) and vasodilation (by sepsis, drugs, or neurotrauma). 

Hydralazine (apresoline) causes direct relaxation of arteriolar smooth muscle, possibly secondary to a fall in intracellular Ca concentrations. The drug does not dilate epicardial coronary arteries or relax venous smooth muscle. Hydralazine-induced vasodilation is associated with powerful stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system, likely due to baroreceptor-mediated reflexes, which results in increased heart rate and contractility, increased plasma renin activity, and fluid retention all of these effects counteract the antihypertensive effect of hydralazine. Although most of the sympathetic activity is due to a baroreceptor-mediated reflex, hydralazine may stimulate NE release from sympathetic nerve terminals and augment myocardial contractility directly. Most of hydralazine s effects are confined to the cardiovascular system the decrease in blood pressure after administration is associated with a selective decrease in vascular resistance in the coronary, cerebral, and renal circulations, with a smaller effect in skin and muscle. Because of preferential dilation of arterioles, postural hypotension is not common, and hydralazine lowers blood pressure equally in the supine and upright positions. 

Minoxidil (loniten) is efficacious in patients with the most severe and drug-resistant forms of hypertension. A small fraction of minoxidil is metabolized by hepatic sulfotransferase to the active molecule, minoxidil N-O sulfate. Minoxidil sulfate activates the ATP-modulated channel in smooth muscle, causing hyperpolarization and relaxation of arteriolar smooth muscle. Minoxidil produces arteriolar vasodilation with essentially no effect on capacitance vessels. Minoxidil preferentially increases blood flow to skin, skeletal muscle, the GI tract, and the heart. The disproportionate increase in blood flow to the heart may have a metabolic basis, in that administration of minoxidil is associated with a reflex increase in myocardial contractility and in cardiac output. The cardiac output can increase by as much as three- to fourfold, primarily due to enhanced venous return to the heart. The increased venous return probably results from enhanced flow in vascular beds with a fast response for venous return to the heart. The adrenergic increase in myocardial contractility contributes to the increased cardiac output, but is not the predominant factor. The renal effects of minoxidil are complex it dilates renal arteries, but systemic hypotension produced by the drug actually can decrease renal blood flow. Renal function usually improves in patients who take minoxidil for the treatment of hypertension, especially if renal dysfunction is secondary to hypertension. Minoxidil potently stimulates renin secretion, an effect mediated by renal sympathetic stimulation. 

SODIUM NITROPRUSSIDE Sodium nitroprusside (NITROPRESS) is a prodrug and potent vasodilator that reduces both ventricular filling pressures and systemic vascular resistance. It has a rapid onset (2-5 minutes) and offset (quickly metabolized to cyanide and NO, the active vasodilator) of action and its dose can be titrated expeditiously to achieve the desired hemodynamic effect. For these reasons, nitroprusside is commonly used in intensive-care settings for rapid control of severe hypertension and for the management of decompensated heart failure. The basic pharmacologic properties of this drug are described in Chapter 32. 

In patients with elevated systemic vascular resistance and normal-to-elevated systemic blood pressure, afterload reduction with nitroprusside is logical it should be emphasized that nitroprus-side also increases venous capacitance, thereby also decreasing preload. In the context of myocardial dysfunction, afterload reduction will typically lead to improved forward cardiac output. Nitroprusside may also be effective when the systemic vascular resistance is elevated and systemic blood pressure is reduced the caveat in this more complex hemodynamic setting is that the load reduction produced by nitroprusside must be counterbalanced by an increase in stroke volume. This derivative increase in stroke volume may not occur in the patient with advanced heart failure rather, the result will be a further reduction in mean arterial pressure and the potential risk of peripheral organ hypoperfusion. An alternative approach would be the use of an inotropic-dilator drug such as milrinone, which will provide both preload and afterload reduction its concurrent positive inotropic effect may offset the reduction in mean arterial pressure that can occur from vasodilation alone. 

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