Comparative study of the haemodynamic effects of oral molsidomine and isosorbide dinitrate in man

Summary The haemodynamic effects of oral molsidomine 4 mg and sustained-release isosorbide dinitrate (ISDN) 40 mg have been compared in 10 patients recovering from acute myocardial infarction. After both drugs pulmonary arterial, pulmonary capillary wedge and systemic arterial blood pressure were reduced to about the same extent. The maximum effect was reached 1.5 to 2 h after ingestion of both drugs, but the effect of molsidomine declined during the following 2 h and control values were almost reached after 4 h. After ISDN there was no rebound during the observation period of 6 h. Unlike molsidomine, ISDN reduced total peripheral resistance, so cardiac output and stroke volume index remained constant despite the reduction in cardiac preload. It is concluded that sustained release ISDN 40 mg and molsidomine 4 mg are about equieffective doses in terms of reduction of cardiac preload, but that the effect of molsidomine is of shorter duration. Since molsidomine alone causes venous pooling, cardiac output and stroke volume index are reduced, which may be an untoward side effect in patients with severe heart failure.