[Treatment of pulmonary embolism (author's transl)].
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to F Schwytzer.
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The course, clinical picture and outcome were compared in 101 patients with infective endocarditis (1975-79, phase III) with our earlier investigations 1947-57 (phase I) and 1961-74 (phase II). An impressive change in this disease was found: - The average age of the patients is higher. - Acute cases and postoperative courses (after valve replacement) are more common and the outcome in these cases is better. Subacute courses are on the decrease. The clinical picture often is oligosymptomatic: - Fever is absent in a quarter, cardiac murmur in nearly a fifth and splenomegaly in four fifths of the patients. - For the first time 5 patients with right-heart endocarditis were observed in phase III. Three of these patients were intravenous drug abusers. The initial clinical picture was misinterpreted as pneumonia or pulmonary embolism. - The most common infective agents were streptococci, followed by staphylococci. The portion of negative blood cultures was strikingly high (35%). - Despite the higher frequency of acute courses, mortality has decreased. Urgent cardiac valve replacement, which has been performed in a fifth of our patients, can prevent irreversible congestive heart failure.
18 patients with angina pectoris participated in a double blind trial with atenolol (100 mg and 200 mg once daily, or 100 mg twice daily) and propranolol (80 mg twice daily). The number of anginal attacks (NAP), the number of days free of pain (NAFT), consumption of sublingual nitroglycerin (NNT) and bicycle ergometry data (EFE) were recorded. Atenolol given in a dose of 100 g twice daily significantly reduced NAP and NNT as compared with the other dose schedules for atenolol and propranolol. There was, however, no difference between NAFT and EFE under any of the treatment schedules mentioned above. Only with 100 mg atenolol twice daily was it possible to reduce heart rate at rest and immediately after exercise testing, and also diastolic blood pressure (at rest, upright and after stress testing). In spite of the long plasma T 1/2 (= 24 hours) reported by others, atenolol given twice daily seems to be the most effective schedule. It is concluded that atenolol (100 mg twice daily) has a more potent anti-anginal effect than propranolol (80 mg twice daily). In addition, atenolol has the advantage of being cardioselective.