Current status of calcium channel blocking drugs after myocardial infarction.

This review critically evaluates the recently reported clinical trials involving the administration of nifedipine and verapamil after myocardial infarction and highlights the ongoing trials with diltiazem. Acute short-term administration of nifedipine and verapamil initiated within hours after onset of suspected myocardial infarction had no beneficial influence on enzymatic infarct size, progression to acute myocardial infarction, or mortality. A short-term, diltiazem non-transmural infarction trial has recently been completed with results pending, and two major long-term, post-infarction trials with nifedipine and diltiazem are currently in progress. The current status of calcium channel blocking drugs for reducing mortality after myocardial infarction is comparable to the status of beta blockers in the mid-1970s.