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Beta-Blockers

  • Chapter
Pharmacological Treatment of Chronic Stable Angina Pectoris

Part of the book series: Current Cardiovascular Therapy ((CCT))

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Abstract

Beta-blockers have been developed specifically for the prevention of anginal attacks in patients with effort angina. They interfere competitively inhibiting catecholamines from binding to beta-receptors, reducing the effects of stress hormones. Beta-blockers have confirmed to be highly effective to control exercise-induced angina and demonstrated a reduction in mortality in post-infarction and heart failure patients. They are considered the cornerstone of treatment in clinical practice guidelines in this setting. All drugs that appeared subsequently, with apparently fewer side effects, have been unable to displace beta-blockers in more than six decades; beta-blockers can be combined with other anti-angina drugs when symptoms are not fully controlled by beta-blockers alone.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cardiology Department, Hospital Universitario La Paz, Madrid, Spain

    Esteban López-de-Sá & José López-Sendón

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  1. Esteban López-de-Sá
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  2. José López-Sendón
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Correspondence to Esteban López-de-Sá .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiology, Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, Oviedo, Spain

    Pablo Avanzas

  2. Cardiovascular and Cell Sciences Research Institute, St George's University of London, London, United Kingdom

    Juan Carlos Kaski

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López-de-Sá, E., López-Sendón, J. (2015). Beta-Blockers. In: Avanzas, P., Kaski, J. (eds) Pharmacological Treatment of Chronic Stable Angina Pectoris. Current Cardiovascular Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17332-0_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17332-0_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-17331-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-17332-0

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