Effects of long-term nicardipine treatment on hemodynamics of large arteries in essential hypertension

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Abstract
The effects of the calcium-entry blocker nicardipine on brachial hemodynamics were studied in 22 patients (18 male, 4 female) with essential hypertension, who were treated with 20 mg tid for 1 year. Compliance, characteristic impedance, vascular resistances, and tangential tension were measured before treatment and after 1, 3, and 12 months of treatment by an automatic recording from a B-mode, high-resolution, real-time scanner and pulsed Doppler velocimetry for the calculation of the flow volume. We observed statistically significant variations in compliance and impedance after 1 month (3.21±0.59 dyn−1 cm4 10−7 vs. 1.26±0.16 dyn−1 cm4 10−7 and 50.6±4.7 dyn s cm−5102 vs. 91.4 ±7.3 dyn s cm−5 102, respectively; mean±SEM; p<0.001), while tangential tension was significantly reduced after only 3 months (23.2±2.2 mmHg vs. 25.4±2.3 mmHg cm; p<0.05). The correlation between variations in mean blood pressure and in the hemodynamic parameters studied remained statistically significant throughout the study. Nicardipine improved the parameters of large-artery hemodynamics that favor a normal systolic pulse.