Table 3.  Cardiovascular and respiratory adverse reactions observed per number of patients.
Adverse reaction  Studies  Total patients, n  Patients with adverse reactions, n (%)  (min%–max%) †
Cardiac
   Hypotension ‡  [ 7, 18, 23, 33, 71, 73, 87, 104, 115]  2752  115 (4)  (1–14) [ 18, 71] - [ 87]
   Hypertension §  [ 7, 18, 23, 33, 41, 54, 61, 73, 85, 87, 102]  2998  385 (13)  (2–95) [ 85] - [ 61]
   Bradycardia (mild and severe) ‡  [ 23, 36, 54, 61, 65, 85, 90, 91, 115, 117]  882  94 (11)  (0–49) [ 36] - [ 61]
   Decrease in heart rate ‡  [ 41, 54, 61, 80]  193  152 (79)  (11–94) [ 80] - [ 41]
   Tachycardia ‡  [ 23, 27, 36]  565  13 (2)  (0–6) [ 36] - [ 23]
   Ventricular extrasystoles ‡  [ 73]  22  11 (50)
   Cardiac event, unspecified ‡  [ 26, 86]  165  18 (11)  (5–12) [ 26] - [ 86]
   Asystole ¶  [ 91, 100]  45  3 (7)  (3–20) [ 100] - [ 91]
   Left cardiac insufficiency  [ 85]  194  1 (1)
   Chest discomfort/tightness ‡  [ 18, 27, 54, 73, 87, 91, 115]  901  22 (2)  (1–10) [ 27] - [ 54]
Respiratory
   Unspecified respiratory  symptoms ‡  [ 26, 86]  165  43 (26)  (21–62) [ 86] - [ 26]
   Dyspnea d  [ 18, 27, 54, 66, 85]  2748  26 (1)  (0–10) [ 66] - [ 54]
   Cough  [ 85, 101]  373  52 (14)  (5–22) [ 101] [ 85]
   Lung edema ‡  [ 59, 85]  241  3 (1)  (1–2) [ 85] - [ 59]
†Incidences of the adverse reactions have been calculated for all the individual studies. (min%–max%) are the lowest and highest observed incidence of an adverse reaction.
‡ DMSO was administered intravenously in all studies.
§ DMSO was administered intravenously in all studies. Horacek et al. [ 102] measured 42 patients with an increase in systolic blood pressure, and 31 patients with an increase in diastolic blood pressure. This was counted as 73 cases of hypertension.
¶ In both studies, asystole occurred because of DMSO effect on the trigeminal nerve and activation of the trigeminal cardiac reflex. d) in one study DMSO was administered transdermally