| Abstract: | What, finally can we conclude from the work to date regarding the use of CCB's? The large clinical trials here give a number of clear messages to the prescriber. Short-acting dihydropyridine CCB's are unproven as prophylactic agents in ischaemic heart disease. In patients with poor left ventricular function post-infarct, CCB's are associated with an unchanged or increased mortality. Use of medications in the treatment of hypertension should be with proven first-line therapeutic agents; beta-blockers, diuretics; and the long-acting dihydropyridine CCB's nifedipine GITS and nitrendipine. The final argument in the discussion over the safety or otherwise of calcium channel blockers will rest in the completion in the future of a number of prospective, randomised, place-controlled clinical drug trials. These trials are currently ongoing, and their results may not be available until after the year 2000. |
