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Isosorbide dinitrate (ISDN) was used by intravenous infusion in 7 patients with acute cardiac failure consecutive to acute (5) or chronic (1) myocardial infarction or to non-obstructive cardiomyopathy (1). Pulmonary artery pressure (PAP), pulmonary capillary pressure (PCP), right atrial pressure (RAP) and cardiac output were measured (PCP), right atrial pressure (RAP) and cardiac output were measured by intracardiac catheterization. The initial dosage of 2.5 mg/hour was increased until PCP was reduced to 15 mmHg or less or until troublesome side-effects developed. Control was achieved in 3 patients with doses of 2.5 to 7 mg/hour and, to a lesser extent, in one patient with up to 20 mg/hour. Three patients failed to respond even to higher doses and needed furosemide i.v. or furosemide + dobutamine. One patient died of cardiogenic shock. No changes in cardiac output, heart rate and blood pressure and no clinical side-effects were recorded. Thus, in acute cardiac failure ISDN may be effective in doses slightly superior to those of nitroglycerin, but increasing the dosage above 7 or 8 mg/hour does not bring additional benefits. The drug is remarkably well tolerated.

During cardiac catheterization, isosorbite dinitrate (ISDN) was given intravenously to ten patients with confirmed left ventricular failure (10 NOMC, 1 ischemic cardiopathy, 1 valvular disease). When the left ventricular filling pressure was above 15 mmHg and the systemic systolic pressure exceeded 100 mmHg, a 500 gamma (first half of patients) or 800 gamma (second half of patients) bolus of ISDN was given intravenously, followed by an infusion of 2.5, 5 or 10 mg ISDN per hour. In all patients, the functional tolerance was excellent ; the heart rate remained unchanged and the systolic systemic pressure decreased only slightly (10 %). Left ventricular filling pressures returned to normal in four patients, decreased significantly in three, and remained unchanged in three. The cardiac output increased significantly in four patients. The poor initial hemodynamic conditions and the doses given, subsequently considered insufficient especially during the first part of the study, probably explain why ISDN was only partly effective.