Classification Of Cardiovascular Drugs

Afnan January 21, 2017

Introduction

Cardiovascular drugs are those drugs that are used to treat various pathological conditions of the cardiovascular system.These drugs comprise a huge arsenal of drugs that fight a broad list of diseases in medical science i.e CVS diseases.chemically these drugs are more or less like some synthetic and some semi-synthetic versions of their natural crude sources.

Basis of classification

In pharmacological classification, there is certain basis which we take into consideration while classifying Them.they are;
  • The site of action.
  • Mechanism of action.
  • Chemical nature of the drug.
  • Nature of disease.
Here for general classification of cardiovascular drugs, we take nature of the disease as the basis of classification. In other words, drugs are classified on the basis of cardiovascular Ailments that they treat.

Cardiovascular Drugs Classification:

Cardiovascular agents are classified into the following five Drug classes.
  1. Antihypertensive drugs
  2. Anti-anginal drugs
  3. Anti-congestive cardiac failure (CCF) drugs
  4. Anti-arrhythmic drugs
  5. Anti-hyperlipidemic drugs

Anti-hypertensive drugs

These are drugs used to lower B.P in hypertension. Hypertension is a very common disorder, particularly past middle age. It is not a disease in itself But is an important risk factor for cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. Drugs included in this category are
  • Beta-blocker
  • Alpha blockers
  • Direct vasodilators (hydralazine etc)
  • Diuretics
  • Ace-inhibitors
  • Calcium channel blockers
  • Angiotensin ii receptor blocker
  • Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system blockers

Anti-anginal drugs

These drugs are used for treating angina pectoris and myocardial infarction. These drugs include.
  • Coronary vasodilators (particularly Nitrites and Nitrates particularly organic nitrates) 
  • Beta Blockers.
  • Calcium channel blockers.
  • Potassium channel opener.
  • Anti-platelet aggregation drugs.
  • Anti-Hyperlipidemias.
 and some others.

Antihyperlipidemic:

These drugs are used to decrease high lipids levels of fats and cholesterols. Chemically most of these drugs are steroids in nature. 
these drugs are also called antilipemics.
They are further classified as.
  • Cholesterolemic
  • Triglyceridemic
These drugs include "HMG-CoA reductase" inhibitors i.e pravastatin and fluvastatin.

Anti-CCF(congestive cardiac failure)

These drugs are used for treating congestive cardiac failure. They include.
  • Rennin angiotensin aldosterone system blockers
  • Beta-blockers
  • Diuretics
  • Direct acting vasodilators
  • Inotropic drugs
  • Aldosterone antagonist

Anti-arrhythmic drugs

They are used for treating arrhythmias like bradycardia and tachycardia. They are alpha blockers. Anti-arrhythmic drugs are classified into following classes.

Class I antiarrhythmics

 Predominantly sodium channel blockers 

Class II antiarrhythmics

 class II antiarrhythmics are beta blockers i.e Propranolol, Metoprolol, Esmolol

Class III antiarrhythmics

 They are potassium channel blockers and block the outflow of k ions during repolarization of cardiac cells. Amiodarone and dronedarone are examples.

Class IV antiarrhythmics

Class 4 antiarrhythmic includes calcium(Ca2+ ) channel blockers other than dipine class(only diltiazem and verapamil).

Other antiarrhythmics

Digoxin and adenosine are classified as other antiarrhythmics. most of these are cardiac glycosides.
The five cardiovascular drugs classes are summarized in the following chart,
a hierarchy table classifying cardiovascular drugs
cardiovascular drugs classification
see this video lecture.


incoming searches:
Tags: