To evaluate the efficacy of the
calcium antagonist
diltiazem for
therapy of active coronary arterial
spasm, 13 patients with clinical variant angina attributed to documented coronary arterial
spasm completed a prospective randomized double-blind crossover trial of
diltiazem (120 and 240 mg/day) versus placebo. Response was assessed with the diary technique measuring frequency of angina, consumption of
nitroglycerin and percent of
pain-free days. When 120 mg of
diltiazem/day was compared with the paired placebo period there was a significant increase in percent of
pain-free days (from 43 to 71 percent [p = 0.03]), but no significant decrease in frequency of angina (p = 0.06) or consumption of
nitroglycerin (p = 0.32). When 240 mg of
diltiazem/day was compared with the paired placebo period there was a significant increase in percent of
pain-free days (from 50 to 79 percent [p = 0.03]) and a significant decrease in both frequency of angina (from 1.6 to 0.4 episodes/day [p = 0.03]) and consumption of
nitroglycerin (from 1.3 to 0.4/day [p = 0.01]).
Diltiazem was found to be a highly effective
drug for control of symptoms of active coronary arterial
spasm, without side effects and with excellent patient tolerance.