The efficacy of diltiazem in the treatment of Raynaud's phenomenon was assessed in a prospective double-blind randomised cross-over trial in 16 patients (7 progressive systemic sclerosis, 2 rheumatoid arthritis, 1 systemic lupus erythematosus, and 6 idiopathic Raynaud's phenomenon). Each patient received diltiazem 120 mg and placebo three times a day for two weeks. The attack frequency of Rayna...

BACKGROUND Patients with acute heart failure (HF) complicated by supraventricular tachyarrhythmia (SVT) often receive continuous intravenous infusion of landiolol or diltiazem for rate control. It is unclear whether the interval from initiation of infusion to commencement of oral beta-blocker (BB) therapy differs for these two drugs. METHODS From January 2013 to July 2015, 94 consecutive pati...

BACKGROUND Intracoronary (IC) calcium channel blockers (CCB) such as diltiazem and verapamil are frequently utilized during percutaneous coronary interventions to maximize coronary blood flow. Their use, however, may be limited by systemic side effects such as hypotension and bradyarrhythmias. The vasoselective dihydropyridines, such as nicardipine, may be more effective at increasing coronary ...

The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of evaluating the therapeutic effects of intravenous diltiazem in a newly established rat model of coronary thrombotic micro-embolism (CME). CME was induced by injecting 0.199 ml saline containing 5 mg of automicrothrombotic particulates (∼10 μm) into the aorta of Sprague Dawley rats. The injection was carried out over 10 sec using a tuberculi...

INTRODUCTION Very few studies exist on the use of diltiazem in the prehospital setting. Some practitioners believe this medication is prone to causing hypotension in this setting. Our goals were to determine whether the prehospital administration of diltiazem induced hypotension and to evaluate the efficacy of the drug. METHODS Our two-tiered system is located in a suburban region of New Jers...

Formation of abdominal aortic aneurysms is a progressive inflammatory process that involves infiltration and differentiation of monocytes in the vessel wall, proliferation and migration of smooth muscle cells, and eventually the degradation of the internal elastic lamina, which leads to outward vascular remodeling and distension of the vessel. Because calcium channel blockers exert multiple ben...

Antiarrhythmic effects of intravenous coronary vasodilators (verapamil, diltiazem, bepridil, trimetazidine and nicorandil) were evaluated using two canine ventricular arrhythmia models (halothane-adrenaline arrhythmia and digitalis arrhythmia), and the minimum effective plasma concentrations of the drugs were determined for each arrhythmia model. Verapamil (0.1 mg/kg), diltiazem (0.1 mg/kg), be...

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to show the effects of intra-operative diltiazem infusion on flow in arterial and venous grafts in coronary artery bypass graft surgery. METHODS Hundred fourty patients with a total of 361 grafts [205 (57%) arterial and 156 (43%) venous] underwent isolated coronary surgery. All the grafts were measured by intraoperative transit time flow meter intra-operatively. Gro...

Effects of Ca2+ antagonists, verapamil and diltiazem, on uptake and release of Ca2+ by microsomes of the renal cortex were studied. Verapamil inhibited the ATP-dependent Ca2+ uptake by renal microsomes. Addition of 0.8 mM verapamil was required to produce 50% inhibition of the ATP-dependent CA2+ uptake. Diltiazem also depressed the Ca2+ uptake was not due to an increased permeability for Ca2+, ...