[Comparative study of three oral nitrate derivatives. A hemodynamic assessment in 10 patients with chronic heart...

The efficacy of three long-acting, orally administered nitrate derivatives was assessed in 10 patients with chronic heart failure. The compounds were: isosorbide dinitrate (ID) 5 mg, nitroglycerin microcapsules (NGMC) 7.5 mg and pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) 160 mg. Pulmonary blood pressures were measured at regular intervals until the 6th hour following oral administration of all three compounds successively to 7 patients and of two compounds (ID and NGMC) to 3 patients. In addition, a hemodynamic study was performed in 3 of these patients while under placebo. The results showed a significant decrease in pulmonary artery diastolic pressure with all three compounds. The effects appeared after 30 minutes with ID and NGMC and after 1 hour with PETN. They lasted 1 hour with ID and 3 to 4 hours with NGMC and PETN. Maximal effect occured at 1 hour with ID (-28%; p < 0.001), at 1.5 hour with NGMC (-18%; p (< 0.01) and at 3 hours with PETN (-21%; p <0.01).