Effects of Nifedipine on Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in Patients with Respiratory Insufficiency without Acute Failure

Abstract

Permanent pulmonary arterial hypertension is a standard part of the prognosis for patients with chronic respiratory insufficiency. As a decrease of pulmonary arterial hypoxic vasoconstriction may be obtained by calcium antagonists, we studied the effects of nifedipine (10 mg sublingually) in 10 patients with chronic repsiratory insufficiency without acute respiratory failure. Our results show that maximal expiratory air flow was not altered. The pulmonary antihypertensive action of this drug, which is less effective than oxygen breathing at low concentration, was associated with a constant decrease of arterial oxygen partial pressure; the oxygen transport was not sustained for everey patient. This result suggests that considerable caution should be exercised in using this drug for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension in patients with chronic respiratory insufficiency without acute failure.

Effects of Nifedipine on Diffusing Capacity and Pulmonary Capillary Blood Volume in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

“…The acute effects of nifedipine in COPD patients were always reported in the past for a single dose: 10 mg [21], 20 mg [10] or 40 mg [7], In the present study we investigated the acute dose-dependent effects of nifedipine (10 and 20 mg) on various lung function in dices.…”