Hemodynamic effects of inhaled ipratropium bromide, alone and combined with an inhaled beta 2-agonist

Inhaled ipratropium bromide's reported lack of cardiovascular side effects has led to recommendations for its use as a bronchodilator in patients with coexisting cardiovascular disease and in combination regimens with adrenergic agents. To assess the hemodynamic effects of ipratropium, we monitored 10 volunteers by M-mode echocardiography following metered-dose ipratropium administered alone and with fenoterol. On 2 separate days, subjects were monitored for 90 min as they received either 160 micrograms of ipratropium or placebo in divided doses plus 400 micrograms of fenoterol at time 60 min. Following ipratropium alone, heart rate (HR) decreased 3 beats/min, a small but significant difference from placebo (p less than 0.04). Stroke volume (SV) and ejection fraction rose significantly (3 ml and 2%, respectively; p = 0.05) so that cardiac output (CO) was unchanged. By contrast, fenoterol alone (following placebo) produced marked increases in HR (13 beats/min), SV (14 ml), and CO (44%), with a marked fall in total peripheral vascular resistance (29%). Ipratropium administered before and with fenoterol had minimal additive effect. Although SV was slightly higher with the combination of drugs than with fenoterol alone (100.1 ml versus 93 ml; p = 0.05), CO was not significantly greater (6.9 L/min versus 6.4 L/min; p greater than 0.10). We conclude that metered-dose ipratropium alone has small and clinically unimportant hemodynamic effects and produces no clinically significant increases in the cardiovascular side effects of the bronchodilator regimen when given with fenoterol.