FATFEM20

ANTIANGINAL DRUGS Angina pectoris is a clinical manifestation described as a sudden, sharp retrosternal pain. An acute anginal attack is thought to occur because of an imbalance between myocardial oxygen supply and demand owing to the inability of coronary blood flow to increase in proportion to increases in myocardial oxygen requirements. This is generally the result of severe coronary artery atherosclerosis. Angina pectoris may also occur as a result of vasospasm of large epicardial coronary vessels or one of their major branches. In addition, angina in certain patients may result from a combination of coronary vasoconstriction, platelet aggregation, plaque rupture, and an increase in myocardial oxygen demand. Antianginal drugs may relieve attacks of acute myocardial ischemia by increasing myocardial oxygen supply or by decreasing myocardial oxygen demand or both. Three groups of pharmacological agents have been shown to be effective in reducing the frequency, severity, or bot...

DRUGS USED IN HYPERTENSION Hypertension is described as a persistent elevated rise in blood pressure. It is basically of two types, primary and secondary . The actual level of pressure that can be considered hypertensive is difficult to define; it depends on a number of factors, including the patient’s age, sex, race, and lifestyle. As a working definition, a diastolic pressure of 90 mm Hg or higher or a systolic pressure of 140 mm Hg or higher represents hypertension. Hypertension is considered to be stage I, or mild, if diastolic pressure is 90 to 99 mm Hg and/or systolic pressure is 140 to 159 mm Hg. Stage II, or moderate, hypertension is diastolic pressure of l00 to 109 mm Hg and/or systolic pressure of 160 to 179 mm Hg. Stage III, or severe, hypertension exists when diastolic pressure is 110 mm Hg or greater and/or systolic pressure is 180 mm Hg or greater. There are three general approaches to the pharmacological treatment of primary hypertension. The first involves ...

ANTICOAGULANTS These agents are employed to inhibit homeostasis at different stages till the stage of fibrinolysis. Homeostasis involves the interplay of three procoagulant phases ( vascular, platelet, and coagulation ) that promote blood clotting to prevent blood loss. The fibrinolytic system prevents propagation of clotting beyond the site of vascular injury and is involved in clot dissolution, or lysis. OVERVIEW OF THROMBOSIS Thrombosis is the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel, obstructing the flow of blood through the circulatory system. When a blood vessel is injured, the body uses platelets (thrombocytes) and fibrin to form a blood clot to prevent blood loss. Even when a blood vessel is not injured, blood clots may form in the body under certain conditions. A clot that breaks free and begins to travel around the body is known as an embolus. When a thrombus occupies more than 75% of cross-sectional area of the lumen of an artery, blood flow to the tissue ...

ANTIPLATELETS AND FIBRINOLYTICS (THROMBOLYTICS) ANTIPLATELETS The formation of platelet aggregates and thrombi in arterial blood may precipitate coronary vasospasm and occlusion, myocardial infarction, and stroke and contribute to atherosclerotic plaque development. Drugs that inhibit platelet function are administered for the relatively specific prophylaxis of arterial thrombosis and for the prophylaxis and therapeutic management of myocardial infarction and stroke. After an infarction or stroke, antiplatelet therapy must be initiated within 2 hours to obtain significant benefit. The antiplatelet drugs are administered as adjuncts to thrombolytic therapy, along with heparin, to maintain perfusion and to limit the size of the myocardial infarction. The classes of antiplatelets are as follows: -          Cyclo-oxygenase inhibitors e.g aspirin – They irreversibly inhibit cyclooxygenase (primarily cyclooxygenase-1) in platelets, preventi...

CHEMOTHERPY INTRODUCTION The term ’çhemotherapy’ broadly refers to the use of any chemical compound that selectively acts on microbes or cancer. Paul Ehrlich introduced the term chemotherapy in 1907 to describe his important early studies of Trypanosoma brucei. The search for anti infective/ chemotherapeutic agents began long time ago, however, agents used against microbes were found to be equally toxic to humans. The search for safe, effective chemotherapeutic drugs is hindered by the common evolutionary legacy humans share with all living organisms; success requires exploitation of metabolic or structural differences between normal human cells and disease-producing cells. The more closely related the undesirable cells are to normal human cells, the more difficult the task of finding a magic bullet (i.e a drug that is selectively toxic to microbes). For example, it is easier to cure malaria than cancer because malaria parasite lacks basic features of human cells compared to ...