The effects of ergonovine maleate on coronary arterial size

SUMMARY Changes in coronary arterial size due to ergonovine maleate are described and quantitated in 90 patients- 18 with typical angina pectoris, 56 with atypical chest pain, nine with variant angina pectoris, and seven heart transplant (allograft) recipients. We observed two angiographic changes in the diameter of cor-onary arteries: 1) spasm, which was characterized by occlusion or marked (>85%) focal or diffuse vessel narrowing, or 2) relatively mild and diffuse vessel narrowing, which was interpreted as the normal phar-macologic response to the drug. Serial bolus injections of 0.05 mg, 0.10 mg and 0.25 mg of ergonovine maleate produced diffuse narrowing of the diameter of coronary arteries of 10 ± 1.5%, 16 ± 1.4 % and 20 ± 1.3% (mean ± SEM), respectively, in the 72 patients with anginal syndromes who did not develop coronary spasm. The degree of coronary arterial narrowing was the same in heart transplant recipients and in patients with nor-mally innervated hearts who did not develop coronary spasm. We believe the normal pharmacologic response to ergonovine maleate was due to a direct vasoconstrictor action of the drug; this action was independent of neural control extrinsic to the heart. CORONARY ARTERIAL SPASM is recognized as a cause of angina pectoris. In attempts to identify patients with this condition, various pharmacologi