[Effects of ethmozine and ethacizin on the central hemodynamics, peripheral vascular tonus and tissue oxygenation in patients with ventricular rhythm disorders and cardiac insufficiency].

Daily monitoring of the ECG, catheterization of the pulmonary artery, tetrapolar chest rheography, occlusion plethysmography and polarography were employed to study the antiarrhythmic efficacy and the effects on the central and peripheral circulation of the new antiarrhythmic etmozine and etacyzine. Twenty-two patients with a frequent chronic ventricular premature heart beat (PHB) and clinically marked circulatory failure (CF) were entered into the study. Intake of etmozine (600 to 800 mg daily) and etacyzine (100 to 300 mg daily) over 5 to 6 days exerted a positive antiarrhythmic effect in 52.6 and 83.3% of the patients, respectively. Etmozine did not produce any adverse hemodynamic action, whereas etacyzine brought about an insignificant increase in the stroke and minute volumes of the heart (12.3 and 9.8%, respectively). However, the lack of an increase in the heart rate (HR), diastolic pressure in the pulmonary artery and regional vascular resistance (RVR), and no significant rise of the preload (systolic pressure in the right atrium) and afterload (elevation of the mean arterial blood pressure and RVR) attest to the fact that etacyzine has a negligible adverse hemodynamic action in CF patients. Intravenous injection of etmozine does not elicit any changes in the RVR or in the venous tone. Meanwhile intravenous injection of etacyzine leads to a significant reduction in the RVR (23.3%). The treatment with both etmozine and etacyzine given in courses promotes the improvement of the microcirculation and tissue oxygen metabolism in patients presenting with CF. More pronounced positive shifts in the microcirculation were achieved with etacyzine. Apparently, this bears on a more demonstrable arteriolodilatation effect of the drug.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)