Nicardipine (Cardene) is a

medication A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and ...

used to treat

high blood pressure Hypertension (HTN or HT), also known as high blood pressure (HBP), is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long-term high bl ...

and

angina Angina, also known as angina pectoris, is chest pain or pressure, usually caused by insufficient blood flow to the heart muscle (myocardium). It is most commonly a symptom of coronary artery disease. Angina is typically the result of obstr ...

. It belongs to the dihydropyridine class of

calcium channel blocker Calcium channel blockers (CCB), calcium channel antagonists or calcium antagonists are a group of medications that disrupt the movement of calcium () through calcium channels. Calcium channel blockers are used as antihypertensive drugs, i.e., as ...

s (CCBs). It is also used for

Raynaud's phenomenon Raynaud syndrome, also known as Raynaud's phenomenon, eponymously named after the physician Auguste Gabriel Maurice Raynaud, who first described it in his doctoral thesis in 1862, is a medical condition in which the spasm of small arteries cau ...

. It is available in by mouth and intravenous formulations. It has been used in

percutaneous coronary intervention Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is a non-surgical procedure used to treat narrowing of the coronary arteries of the heart found in coronary artery disease. The process involves combining coronary angioplasty with stenting, which is the ...

. Its mechanism of action and clinical effects closely resemble those of

nifedipine Nifedipine (3,5-dimethyl 2,6-dimethyl-4-(2-nitrophenyl)-1,4-dihydropyridine-3,5-dicarboxylate), sold under the brand name Adalat and Procardia, among others, is a calcium channel blocker medication used to manage angina, high blood pressure, Ra ...

and the other dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers (

amlodipine Amlodipine, sold under the brand name Norvasc among others, is a calcium channel blocker medication used to treat high blood pressure and coronary artery disease. It is taken by mouth. Common side effects include swelling, feeling tired, ...

felodipine Felodipine is a medication of the calcium channel blocker type which is used to treat high blood pressure. It was patented in 1978 and approved for medical use in 1988. Medical uses Felodipine is used to treat high blood pressure and stable a ...

), except that nicardipine is more selective for cerebral and coronary blood vessels. It is primarily a peripheral arterial vasodilator, thus unlike the nitrovasodilators (nitroglycerin and nitroprusside), cardiac preload is minimally affected. It has the longest duration among parenteral CCBs. As its use may lead to reflex bradycardia, it is advisable to use it in conjunction with a beta-blocker. It was patented in 1973 and approved for medical use in 1981. Nicardipine was approved by the FDA in December 1988. The patent for both Cardene and Cardene SR expired in October 1995.

References

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Pharmacodynamics Pharmacodynamics (PD) is the study of the biochemical and physiologic effects of drugs (especially pharmaceutical drugs). The effects can include those manifested within animals (including humans), microorganisms, or combinations of organisms ...

, titlestyle = background:#ccccff , list1 = {{Ion channel modulators {{GABA receptor modulators {{Glycine receptor modulators {{Xenobiotic-sensing receptor modulators Calcium channel blockers CYP2D6 inhibitors Dihydropyridines Nitrobenzenes Hoffmann-La Roche brands Carboxylate esters Amines Glycine receptor agonists Glycine receptor antagonists GABAA receptor negative allosteric modulators Methyl esters

See also

References