Document Type

Open Access Presentation

Publication Date

Spring 4-10-2026

Abstract

Background: Nitroglycerin (NTG) is a medication commonly used for chest pain, often administered in prehospital settings during acute myocardial infarctions (AMI). Current guidelines from the American Heart Association (AHA) and European Society of Cardiology (ESC) recommend avoiding NTG in suspected right ventricular myocardial infarctions (RVMI).

Objectives: Review the hemodynamic effects of nitroglycerin in acute myocardial infarction subtypes to reevaluate the validity of its contraindications.

Method: PubMed and Google Scholar databases were searched, yielding five publications that retrospectively analyzed the effects of NTG on blood pressure (BP) in AMI.

Results: Recent evidence suggests that NTG does not cause a harmful hemodynamic response to a greater extent in RVMIs than it does in other AMI subtypes.

Conclusions: The literature does not support withholding nitroglycerin for pain relief in myocardial infarctions based solely on myocardial infarction subtype. Nitroglycerin should not be contraindicated, but caution should remain until future studies can further investigate the risk.

Download

Share

COinS