Experience with pindolol, a betareceptor blocker, in the treatment of hypertension

Ten patients, mean age 48 years, with essential hypertension of stage I and II according to the WHO classification, were studied at rest and during work before and after an average of two and 16 months of oral treatment with the beta-adrenergic blocking agent, pindolol. The pindolol treatment caused a significant decrease in the systemic systolic and diastolic blood pressure, both at rest and during work. Three mechanisms seem to be involved in the antihypertensive effect of pindolol: (1) a negative chronotropic effect on the heart, (2) a decrease in peripheral vascular resistance, and (3) an increase in venous capacitance affecting the venous return. However, the significance of these mechanisms seems to differ when the situations after two months of treatment are compared with those after 16 months of treatment. In the beginning, a decrease in cardiac output seems to be the main cause of the lowering of the blood pressure; later, a decrease in systemic vascular resistance might be of greater importance.