W Visser1, H C Wallenburg. 1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Erasmus University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To compare the effects of a single oral dose of nifedipine with those of intravenous dihydralazine on central haemodynamics in pregnant women with severe pre-eclampsia. DESIGN: A prospective comparative study. SETTING: The High Risk Obstetric Unit, University Hospital Rotterdam Dijkzigt, Rotterdam. SUBJECTS: Twenty patients with severe pre-eclampsia between 27 and 35 weeks gestation with normal cardiac filling pressures and without fetal distress. INTERVENTIONS: A pulmonary artery thermodilution catheter and a radial artery line were placed. Ten patients chewed a 10-mg capsule of nifedipine and 10 patients received dihydralazine by intravenous infusion at a rate of 1-3 mg/h. Arterial pressures, heart rate, cardiac output and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure were determined before and after drug administration. Fetal condition was continuously monitored by cardiotocography. RESULTS: The reduction in arterial blood pressure obtained with both drugs was similar, and was associated with a similar rise in heart rate and cardiac output and a similar reduction in systemic vascular resistance. Pulmonary capillary wedge pressures decreased significantly less with nifedipine than with dihydralazine. Signs of fetal distress occurred in none of the nifedipine-treated patients, but in five of the patients treated with dihydralazine. CONCLUSION: From the haemodynamic viewpoint nifedipine seems to be a useful agent in the treatment of hypertensive emergencies in pregnancy.
OBJECTIVE: To compare the effects of a single oral dose of nifedipine with those of intravenous dihydralazine on central haemodynamics in pregnant women with severe pre-eclampsia. DESIGN: A prospective comparative study. SETTING: The High Risk Obstetric Unit, University Hospital Rotterdam Dijkzigt, Rotterdam. SUBJECTS: Twenty patients with severe pre-eclampsia between 27 and 35 weeks gestation with normal cardiac filling pressures and without fetal distress. INTERVENTIONS: A pulmonary artery thermodilution catheter and a radial artery line were placed. Ten patients chewed a 10-mg capsule of nifedipine and 10 patients received dihydralazine by intravenous infusion at a rate of 1-3 mg/h. Arterial pressures, heart rate, cardiac output and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure were determined before and after drug administration. Fetal condition was continuously monitored by cardiotocography. RESULTS: The reduction in arterial blood pressure obtained with both drugs was similar, and was associated with a similar rise in heart rate and cardiac output and a similar reduction in systemic vascular resistance. Pulmonary capillary wedge pressures decreased significantly less with nifedipine than with dihydralazine. Signs of fetal distress occurred in none of the nifedipine-treated patients, but in five of the patients treated with dihydralazine. CONCLUSION: From the haemodynamic viewpoint nifedipine seems to be a useful agent in the treatment of hypertensive emergencies in pregnancy.