[Multicenter study of isradipine in the treatment of hypertension]

MIS is a one-year Multicentre Isradipine Study of the treatment of essential hypertension, in which participated seven centres in Czechoslovakia. The study comprised 144 patients with mild or medium severe hypertension. Isradipine belongs into the group of dihydropyridine derivatives with a high specific and low non-specific affinity to dihydropyridine binding sites of the L-type of calcium channels. After a four-week placebo period isradipine treatment (2.5 mg (1/2 tablet twice a day/was started. This dose increased to 5 mg (1 tablet twice a day) unless normalization of the diastolic pressure was achieved by a smaller dose. Monotherapy with isradipine normalized the diastolic pressure (less than 90 mmHg) in 44% of the hypertonic patients. 56% hypertonics where monotherapy with isradipine did not reduce the diastolic pressure below 90 mmHg were treated by a combination of isradipine and bopindolol. This group of patients had a significantly higher systolic and diastolic pressure, a higher number of erythrocytes and thrombocytes at the onset of the investigation. Addition of bopindolol to isradipine proved very effective. At the end of the one-year study 87% of the patients had a normal diastolic pressure. Isradipine as monotherapy and combined with bopindolol did not influence the metabolic risk factors of IHD and drug tolerance was very good.