Therapeutic effects of nebulized verapamil on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A randomized and double-blind...

In this study, we assessed the clinical effect of inhaled verapamil on hospitalized COPD patients in a randomized and double-blind study.

COPD patients randomly received 10 mg of inhaled verapamil or 4 cc nebulized distilled water (DW) as placebo.

Twenty patients enrolled in each group with no difference in baseline characteristics. Mean age was 64.95 ± 8.9 and 66.9 ± 10.74 years in verapamil and control group; respectively, (P > 0.05). The mean dyspnea score was 6.4 ± 1.2 and 6.2 ± 1.8 in the verapamil and control group, respectively and decreased to 4.9 ± 1.3 and 5.7 ± 1.8 after the intervention. The mean change in the verapamil group was significantly higher, (22.43% ± 10.6% vs 8.7% ± 12.1%), P = 0.00. Unlike the control group, the FEV1 value in the verapamil group significantly increased and reached to 1.17 ± 0.4 L from 1.03 ± 0.4. There was a significant decrease in airway resistance in both groups after intervention. However, neither total lung capacity and residual volume nor forced vital capacity changed significantly. Moreover, oxygen saturation in the verapamil group changed 4.8% ± 2.5% and this improvement in the control group was 1.8 ± 1 (P = 0.00). Smoker subjects, ones with PAP more than 35 mm Hg and obese patients benefit from verapamil.

The beneficial impact of inhaled verapamil on the diminishing of dyspnea score along with its bronchodilatory effect would make this selective calcium blocker agent a therapeutic option in COPD.