[Regional circulatory changes in heart failure as affected by intravenous nitroglycerin administration]

The effect of nitroglycerin intravenously injected in 23 patients with heart failure (stage A and stage B), on the regional blood circulation (the chest, abdominal cavity, crus and finger) was studied by the method of impedansplethysmography. Various reactivity of capacious and resistive vessels of different vascular regions was found in reply to an intravenous injection of the drug. The redistribution of the venoarterial circulation in the regions studied occurred depending on the changes in the central hemodynamics. While administering nitrates to patients with circulatory failure it is necessary to take into account the state of the central and regional hemodynamics in the initially high total peripheral resistance. The control over changes of the pulse blood filling in different vascular vessels under the influence of nitroglycerin may be sufficiently informative for the choice of individual doses of the vasodilator and the assessment of the effectiveness of the therapy.