As we know from an earlier chapter, the large-scale tests throughout Rumania directed towards the possible effects of procaine to prevent aging have shown that high as well as low blood pressure and too fast a pulse are frequently normalized. Equally, the longterm treatment of cardiac patients with procaine GH3 (usually for at least eighteen months) will often yield satisfactory results. Procaine has a vasodilatory effect, causing blood vessels to dilate, thus lowering the blood pressure. Arteriosclerotic conditions are improved, angina pectoris attacks diminish, heart thromboses show signs of faster healing. Intravenous injections have a favorable effect on cerebral spasms in older people; phlebitis, the recurrent inflammation of a vein, is easily overcome, and disturbances in peripheral circulation (after intra-arterial injections) are lessened.
The effects of procaine GH3 on these conditions have long been known and often described. In heart arrhythmies, treatment with procaine is standard procedure (there are in this country even oral procaine preparations available for this purpose). In other heart
conditions procaine was prescribed as long ago as 1924.
The Soviet researcher N. K. Gorbadei, of the Leningrad Sanitary-Hygiene Medical Institute, examined over 70 of his peptic ulcer patients electrocardiographically before and after intra-arterial influsion of procaine H3. The general conclusions which Dr. Gorbadei derived from these examinations are:
Procaine, administered by intra-arterial infusion, has no toxic effect on the contraction of the heart muscle. The electrocardiographic studies of the patients seem to suggest that procaine infusions have a general action on the body as a whole, including the cardiovascular system, which is able to adjust temporary imbalances in the relative proportions of the excitation and inhibition of the nervous system.
The condition of the cardiovascular system before and after procaine infusions was studied by determining the tensio.n of the veins and arteries by a bloodless method measuring the venous and arterial pressures, and recording simultaneously the changes in the volume of the limb and the blood pressure in ink with a device called the kymograph.
The initial. values of the arterial and venous pressures in the peptic ulcer patients were rather low, and the tension of the blood vessels was changeable, with a tendency to be raised.
After the first intra-arterial 'infusion of procaine a slight fall in the arterial and venous pressures was observed, presumably due to a fall in vascular tension as a result of procaine block.
However, after completion of the course of procaine infusions, most patients had higher arterial and venous pressures. The blood flow from the heart into the limb was increased, and the pulse rate slightly quickened.
The limb volume was increased because of the greater influx of blood. The tension of the blood vessels became more stable. In other words, the intra-arterial infusions of procaine had a normalizing effect on the
vascular tone and on temporarily deranged reactions of the cardiovascular system. Subsequent infusions of procaine had much less effect than the earlier ones.
In peptic ulceration, changes in the cardiovascular system are present, in addition to the gastrointestinal disturbances, and can be recorded plethysmographically. These changes respond to intra-arterial infusions of procaine along with the improvement in the course of the ulcer itself. The conclusion is that this is a rational form of treatment, which acts on the body via the receptors of the blood vessels and the central nervous system.
Angina pectoris and GH3
At the same Institute, intra-arterial infusions of procaine were given to 20 patients (15 males and five female), aged from 20 to 71 years, who were suffering from angina pectoris-in most cases associated with early hypertension. (The patients were selected to exclude those with myocardial infarction.) All the patients were suffering frequent attacks of intense pain. The usual number of procaine infusions given was from four to ten.
After the treatment, 17 of the 20 patients were completely relieved of pain in the region of the heart,
and the pain was less frequent in the other three. The frequency of the occurrence of palpitations and shortness of breath in the patients was also considerably reduced. The electrocardiographic findings showed improvement, the heart rate became normal, and extra systoles were abolished.
Similar results were reported in 1956 by F. F. Kilimatova of the Kazan State Institute for the Advanced Training of Physicians, who also used this method for relief of the pains of angina pectoris.
Varicose veins
Varicose veins is another of the diseases commonly associated with old age against which Prof. AsIan has
found procaine GH3 injections to be a valuable medication. Other doctors had used procaine for the same purpose as long as forty-five years ago. The technique requires procaine injections around the affected vein or into the femoral artery. Here, too, procaine seems to have true curative power. Not only are the dull aches of the varicose veins relieved, but the condition itself, which is caused by a breakdown of the valves in the vein with subsequent unsightly enlargement, is favorably affected.
Prof. Aslan reports a number of cures of varicose veins without recurrence provided the causative circumstances (long periods of standing or sitting upright, or heavy lifting) were eliminated.
Why procaine H3 should have such an effect on the veins is not clear. Some researchers believe there is some connection between the varicose veins that appear with increasing; age and the increasing failure of
the endocrine glands to function properly. In view of the indications that procaine influences favorably less active endocrine glands, we may have an explanation why it is effective in many cases of varicose veins.
It is also interesting to note that in several patients with elephantiasis-like swelling of the lower extremities, caused by circulatory disturbances, improvement was noted after intramuscular procaine injections. (Sometimes elephantiasis is caused by the presence of parasitic worms in the lymphatic system, in which case procaine will be of no help.)
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H3 Book Index:: Chapters 1-29
