Acute hemodynamic and antiischemic properties of intravenous bepridil in coronary artery disease

Abstract The acute hemodynamic and antiischemic effects of intravenous bepridil (3 mg/kg/5 minutes followed by 1 mg/kg/hour) were studied in 19 patients with coronary artery disease under basal conditions and during 2 identical pacing stress tests 30 minutes before (pace test I) and 15 minutes after (pace test II) onset of infusion. Bepridil immediately decreased coronary and systemic vascular resistance (26 and 17%, respectively). This resulted in a 19 and 21% reduction in left ventricular systolic and mean aortic pressures and a 15% increase in coronary flow and stroke index (p 2 consumption were comparable. In contrast, bepridil prevented the significant increase in systemic resistance and mean aortic pressure observed during pace test I (11 and 15%, respectively). Subsequently, myocardial O 2 demand was significantly less during pacing after bepridil, due to an 11% reduction in left ventricular systolic pressure (p 2 demand.