Effects of phenoxybenzamine in shock due to myocardial infarction.

Treatment of cardiogenic shock with vasodilator drugs has been advocated on the basis of experimental work showing that a fall in peripheral resistance allows the cardiac output to increase without any increase in cardiac work.Seven patients suffering from shock secondary to myocardial infarction were treated with phenoxybenzamine. In two cases there was dramatic improvement in the signs and symptoms of shock, but in six of the seven cases there were severe adverse effects on respiration, including the development of wheezing and rales and rhonchi.