Coronary artery spasm and microvascular angina

Ischaemic heart disease comprises a variety of coronary abnormalities, ranging from obstructive atherosclerotic stenoses to functional coronary vasomotor disorders. The latter comprise coronary spasm, as well as coronary microvascular dysfunction. Importantly, structural and functional abnormalities can coexist in a given patient, making it sometimes difficult to determine the underlying cause of angina. Thus, diagnostic algorithms should not only consider the evaluation of atherosclerotic epicardial disease, but also look for the presence of functional coronary disorders. This holds especially true for patients in whom obstructive coronary disease has been excluded, as many of these patients are labelled as having ‘non-cardiac chest pain’. Such an approach may enable the treating physician to adjust the pharmacological therapy more appropriately, in order to improve symptoms and prognosis. Often drug classes such as calcium channel blockers and nitrates are beneficial in these patients. This chapter gives an overview on the current pharmacological management of patients with coronary artery spasm and those suffering from microvascular angina.

Liver disease

Cardiovascular disease in patients with liver disease, previously uncommon, is rising because of an increasing incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and better survival of patients with viral hepatitis, particularly hepatitis C. Liver dysfunction alters the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of many drugs, and hence careful use and dose adjustments are necessary. This chapter describes common cardiovascular conditions and the pharmacotherapy in patients with different liver diseases.

Myocarditis and pericardial syndromes

Myocarditis is defined as inflammatory disease of the myocardium, diagnosed by established histological, immunological, and immunohistochemical criteria. Aetiology-targeted therapy is indicated when supported by evidence. However, in the vast majority of patients with myocarditis, the most important targets of treatment are heart failure and arrhythmias. Management of systolic left ventricular (LV) dysfunction should follow the recommendations of current European Society of Cardiology guidelines on heart failure. Immunosuppression is indicated only in giant cell myocarditis. In patients with severe LV dysfunction, inotropic support may be necessary and ventricular assist devices may represent a bridge to recovery or to heart transplantation There are no specific treatments of arrhythmias in myocarditis. Implantation of cardioverter–defibrillators must be deferred in the acute phase. In patients with severe ventricular arrhythmia, a wearable cardioverter–defibrillator can represent a bridge to recovery, implantation of cardioverter–defibrillators, or heart transplantation. Pericardial diseases may be either an isolated disease or part of a systemic disease. The main pericardial syndromes that are encountered in clinical practice include pericarditis (acute, subacute, chronic, and recurrent), pericardial effusion, cardiac tamponade, and constrictive pericarditis, and pericardial masses. Major advances have occurred in therapy with the first multicentre randomized clinical trials. Colchicine has been demonstrated as a first-line drug to be added to conventional anti-inflammatory therapies in patients with a first episode of pericarditis or recurrences, in order to improve response to therapy, increase remission rates, and reduce recurrences.

Syncope

Syncope results from sudden, transient, global cerebral hypoperfusion. Neurally mediated syncope, orthostatic hypotension, arrhythmic and cardiac syncope, and steal syndromes are the main pathophysiological forms of syncope. This chapter focuses on the treatment of neurally mediated syncope and orthostatic syncope, since other forms of syncope are reviewed elsewhere. In neurally mediated and orthostatic syncope, patient education and non-pharmacological measures are the mainstay of treatment, although benefits of pharmacological treatment are not so evident.

Chronic stable angina

Treatment of patients with chronic stable angina has two main objectives: to improve clinical outcome and to reduce angina symptoms. Prognosis is mainly improved by a reduction in cardiovascular risk factor burden, which may be achieved by appropriate lifestyle changes and, for some risk factors (e.g. hypercholesterolaemia, hypertension, diabetes), appropriate pharmacological therapy (including, in particular, statins and renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system inhibitors) and use of antithrombotic agents. Symptoms can be improved by a variable combination of traditional (beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, nitrates) and novel (e.g. ivabradine, ranolazine) anti-ischaemic drugs, which may act through reduction in myocardial oxygen consumption and/or improvement of myocardial perfusion.

Bradyarrhythmias

This chapter overviews the types of bradycardia and their acute management, including the use of rate-accelerating drugs, and overviews the indications for pacemaker therapy. Focus is on pharmacotherapy with atropine, adrenaline, isoprenaline, isoproterenol, dobutamine, dopamine, theophylline, and aminophylline.

Atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the commonest cardiac arrhythmia in hopspitalized patients, with an increasing incidence with age and an epidemic increase projected for the next 10 years. Therapy of AF has several goals: to decrease mortality (mainly due to cardiovascular diseases), stroke rate, ventricular deterioration and heart failure, cognitive impairment, and dementia, as well as to increase quality of life. The recent European AF guidelines specify the management strategies for each of the above-mentioned goals. For stroke prevention, treatment with a non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC) has emerged as the therapy of choice for the majority of patients with AF in the absence of rheumatic mitral disease and mechanical valve prostheses. However, in daily use of these drugs, many challenges remain that healthcare providers need to be aware of. Regarding treatment of the arrhythmia itself, it remains a therapy addressing the quality of life. Catheter ablation has emerged as a valid alternative for a variety of patients. Nevertheless, pharmacological antiarrhythmic drug therapy remains an important pillar for the majority of patients, and effective and safe use implies an important skill for every cardiologist.

Metabolic syndrome and diabetes

The metabolic syndrome (MetS) and even more so diabetes confer a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular disease. A multifactorial approach is required to improve the prognosis of patients with the MetS or diabetes. Glucose control is essential to reduce microvascular diabetes complications and, over long periods of time, may also lower the risk of cardiovascular events in patients with diabetes. As in other patient populations, lowering low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and treating arterial hypertension are paramount interventions to reduce cardiovascular event risk in patients with the MetS and diabetes. Most patients with diabetes must be considered at a very high risk of cardiovascular events, which qualifies them for low LDL cholesterol targets. Antiplatelet therapy is recommended for patients with the MetS or diabetes in secondary prevention; it may also be considered for primary prevention patients with diabetes who are at high or very high risk; it is not recommended for primary prevention in diabetes patients at moderate risk. Because the MetS or diabetes confers an extremely high risk of cardiovascular events once cardiovascular disease is established, it is extremely important to intervene early to prevent these patients from developing cardiovascular disease.

Non-cardiac drugs affecting the heart—from A to Z

Non-cardiac drugs affecting the heart.

Major drug interactions

Drug interactions are commonly present in our daily clinical work and have the ability to either enhance or reduce the effects of a drug, but also, just as importantly, decrease or increase the risk of side effects, thereby increasing the risk of toxicity. This chapter will focus on the clinically important drug–drug interactions with some of the most often used cardiovascular drugs and especially where there is a risk of causing harm to patients due to serious side effects. Both pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic interactions will be discussed, with focus on the most vulnerable patients. In some cases, drug combinations are contraindicated, whereas in other cases, the combinations can be used with, for example, close monitoring or dose reductions, but most importantly, the risk of interactions should be considered in order to take appropriate precautions upfront.