Vandzhura V. Comparison of the antianginal and antihypertensive effectiveness of felodipine and amlodipine in patients with chronic ischaemic heart disease and conco-mitant arterial hypertension

This study was undertaken to compare antiischaemic and antihypertensive effectiveness of two newer 1,4-dihydropiridines - felo-dipine and amlodipine in patients with chronic stable angina and arterial hypertension. Both felodipine and amlodipine caused a significant increase in exercise duration (bicycle ergometri testing) after 3 weeks. Evaluation by 24-hour Holter monitoring demonstrated reduction the number and duration of transient ischaemic episodes, especially sympto-matic. Only amlodipine significantly decreased of silent ischemia in hypertensive patients with stable angina pectoris. The 24-hours blood pressure monitoring demonstrated that felo-dipine produced statistically more significant systolic and diastolic blood pressure reduc-tion. The decrease in blood pressure for the amlodipine patients was accompanied by decrease in 24- hours blood pressure variability and increase in number of patients with type -"dipper".