Hemodynamic effects of intravenous timolol in coronary artery disease

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Abstract
The hemodynamic effects of intravenous timolol were evaluated in 20 patients with coronary artery disease during diagnostic cardiac catheterization. The threshold dose of 0.25 mg reduced heart rate and cardiac index by 15% (p < 0.05), left ventricular work index by 21% (p < 0.05), and left ventricular dp/dt by 16% (p < 0.05) while increasing left ventricular end‐diastolic pressure by 49% (p < 0.01), mean pulmonary arterial pressure by 17% (p < 0.01), and systemic vascular resistance by 16% (NS). Larger doses (0.5 mg and 1.0 mg) induced similar responses with a greater effect on systemic vascular resistance (+22%, p < 0.01, and +31%, p < 0.001). The mean arterial pressure and stroke volumes were not affected by timolol. Peak effects, occurring at about 10 min after drug injection, did not correlate with plasma levels. The overall hemodynamic effects of timolol were similar to those reported for equipotent doses of propranolol and could be accounted for by the β‐adrenoceptor blocking activity.