Venous dilators
Drugs that dilate venous capacitance vessels serve two primary functions in treating cardiovascular disorders:
Venous dilators reduce venous pressure, which reduces preload on the heart thereby decreasing cardiac output. This is useful in angina because it decreases the oxygen demand of the heart and thereby increases the oxygen supply/demand ratio. Oxygen demand is reduced because decreasing preload leads to a reduction in ventricular wall stress by decreasing the size of the heart.
Reducing venous pressure decreases proximal capillary hydrostatic pressure, which reduces capillary fluid filtration and edema formation. Therefore, venous dilators are sometimes used in the treatment of heart failure along with other drugs because they help to reduce pulmonary and/or systemic edema that results from the heart failure.
The effects of selective venous dilators on overall cardiovascular function in normal subjects as depicted graphically using cardiac and systemic vascular function curves
Although most vasodilator drugs dilate veins as well as arteries, some drugs, such as organic nitrate dilators are relatively selective for veins.
The effects of selective venous dilators on overall cardiovascular function in normal subjects can be depicted graphically using cardiac and systemic vascular function curves as shown to the right. Venous dilation increases venous compliance by relaxing the venous smooth muscle. Increased compliance causes a parallel shift to the left of the vascular function curve (red line), which decreases the mean circulatory filling pressure (x-intercept). This causes the operating point to shift from A to B, resulting in a decrease in cardiac output (CO) with a small decrease in right atrial pressure (PRA). The reason for these changes is that venous dilation, by reducing PRA, decreases right ventricular preload, which decreases stroke volume and cardiac output by the Frank-Starling mechanism. Although not shown in this figure, reduced cardiac output causes a fall in arterial pressure, which reduces afterload on the left ventricle and leads to baroreceptor reflex responses, both of which can shift the cardiac function curve up and to the left. Sympathetic activation can also lead to an increase in systemic vascular resistance. The cardiac effects (decreased cardiac output) of venous dilation are more pronounce in normal hearts than in failing hearts because of where the hearts are operating on their Frank-Starling curves (cardiac function) curves (click here for more information).
Therefore, the cardiac and vascular responses to venous dilation are complex when both direct effects and indirect compensatory responses are taken into consideration. The most important effects in terms of clinical utility for patients are summarized below.
Venous dilators reduce:
Venous pressure and therefore cardiac preload
Cardiac output
Arterial pressure
Myocardial oxygen demand
Capillary fluid filtration and tissue edema