Nifedipine therapy for coronary vasospasm.

In conclusion, we observed first that nifedipine is highly efficacious in preventing the coronary vasospasm of Prinzmetal's variant angina. Secondly, nifedipine appears to be efficacious in preventing episodes of recurrent rest angina following an acute myocardial infarction. Although coronary vasospasm has not been clearly documented in patients with recurrent rest angina after infarction, a primary decrease in coronary blood flow is the most likely cause of this syndrome since the ischemia occurs at rest, at a time when myocardial oxygen demands are not elevated. In this highly unstable group of patients with coronary disease nifedipine may eliminate the need for bypass surgery or may provide clinical stability prior to more elective cardiac catheterization and surgery.