Cardiovascular drugs: adenosine role in coronary syndromes and percutaneous coronary interventions.

Adenosine is an endogenous nucleoside available for the diagnosis and treatment of various cardiovascular conditions. It may be given for pharmacologic stress tests as well as administered directly into the coronary arteries during cardiac catheterization. The latter treatment may be utilized to measure fractional flow reserve in addition to treating the no-reflow phenomenon. Adenosine has also been shown to improve the clinical outcome of thrombolytics given in the setting of acute myocardial infarction. Adenosine is a useful agent for evaluation and treatment of the cardiovascular system. Copyright 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.