This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages without signing in

Nitrate vasodilators

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Nitrates are used in the treatment of:

  • angina
  • cardiac failure

There are three anti-anginal mechanisms (1):

  • peripheral vasodilatation reduces vascular resistance and reduces cardiac oxygen consumption
  • venous dilatation results in pooling of blood in the peripheries, reduction in end-diastolic pressures and improved coronary flow
  • there is a direct vasodilatory effect on the coronary vessels

In cardiac failure, nitrates work by reducing the pre- and after- loads on the heart by venous and arterial vasodilatation (2).

Reference:

  • Henderson RA.angina: medical treatment, coronary arteriography and angioplasty.Medicine International (1993); 21(10):389-396. #
  • de Bono D.Management of myocardial infarction.Medicine International (1993);21(10):401-5.

Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.