Nitrates have been for many years the cornerstone of cardiovascular therapy for various indications. Not only have nitrates stood the test of time for treatment of chronic stable angina pectoris, but the indications for them have markedly ex panded. They now include all forms of angina pectoris and myocardial ischemia, congestive heart failure and hypertensive emergencies. The beneficial effects of nitrates in all these conditions result from their vasodilatory properties, but it is still unclear whether the central or peripheral effects predominate in the thera peutic mechanism. Recently nitrates have been shown to fulfill the most important requirement for each and every drug - to reduce mortality. A large scale study revealed that isosorbide dinitrate, combined with hydralazine, reduced long-term mortality by 28% in patients with congestive heart failure. This finding will certainly stimulate research on nitrates, and it might be expected that interest in these drugs will markedly increase. The primarily used nitrates in clinical practice are nitroglycerin and the com plex organic nitrates, mainly isosorbide dinitrate. The organic mononitrates are now under clinical investigation, and isosorbide-5-mononitrate (IS-5-MN) appears to be especially promising.
