Managing critically ill patients with esmolol. An ultra short-acting beta-adrenergic blocker

Esmolol is a new intravenous beta-adrenergic blocker with an ultrashort (nine-minute) elimination half-life, which has been studied predominantly for control of supraventricular tachycardia and management of certain types of hypertension. Clinical studies indicate that the efficacy of esmolol is equivalent to that of propranolol and verapamil for control of supraventricular tachycardia and to sodium nitroferricyanide (sodium nitroprusside) for control of postoperative hypertension. Esmolol also has been shown to control heart rate and blood pressure during episodes of acute myocardial ischemia. Cardioselectivity is similar to that of metoprolol, and the ability to titrate the effect of esmolol may provide additional assurance that beta-adrenergic blockade will remain within the cardioselective range. The most commonly observed adverse effect seen in clinical trials was asymptomatic hypotension. Hypotension may be minimized by titrating to the minimum effective dose and is readily reversed within 10 to 30 minutes of discontinuing the infusion of esmolol. These unique features represent advantages of great potential merit in critical care medicine.