A randomized clinical trial of intravenous nitroglycerin in patients with acute myocardial infarction: benefits of early treatment

Abstract

A prospective randomized clinical trial of intravenous nitroglycerin administered for 48 hours following acute infarction was undertaken to determine whether clinical improvement and/or preservation of ischemic myocardium could be demonstrated. One hundred four patients were randomized to receive either nitroglycerin or placebo infusion. Nitroglycerin infusion was titrated to lower mean arterial pressure 10% using non-invasive monitoring. Early nitroglycerin treatment, defined as treatment initiated less than 10 hours after symptom onset, resulted in a lower incidence of new congestive heart failure, myocardial infarct extension, and/or early death from pump failure (15%) compared to late nitroglycerin treatment (50%, p = 0.008) or early placebo treatment (48%, p = 0.01). Improvement in ejection fraction of greater than or equal to 10% was demonstrated in 7 of 20 (35%) early nitroglycerin treated patients compared to 6, 11 and 0% of patients in the three other subgroups, respectively (p = 0.004). Similarly, thallium-201 perfusion scintigrams showed a greater than 75% improvement in defect score in 23 (48%) patients receiving nitroglycerin within 10 hours compared to 14%, 33% and 0% respectively, in the remaining subgroups (p = 0.035). However, before routine administration of nitroglycerin can be recommended for all patients with acute infarction, larger clinical trials will be required.