To examine the hemodynamic changes induced by vasodilator therapy with urapidil during exercise in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and their potential impact on symptom-limited maximal oxygen consumption, we studied 12 clinically stable patients using a randomized, crossover design. Placebo or urapidil (60 mg orally thrice a day) was given during 48 h preceding each incremental maximal exercise testing. Urapidil compared to placebo consistently lowered the pulmonary artery pressure either at rest from 29 +/- 2.5 to 24 +/- 1.5 mm Hg (p less than 0.001) or during exercise from 55 +/- 3 to 46 +/- 2 mm Hg (p less than 0.01). At rest, the systemic arterial pressure was reduced from 97.5 +/- 4 to 88.5 +/- 3 mm Hg (p less than 0.001) with no significant difference in heart rate or cardiac index. During exercise, systemic arterial pressure decreased from 135 +/- 4 to 119 +/- 3 mm Hg (p less than 0.001). As compared to placebo, urapidil tended to increase the cardiac index from 6.1 +/- 0.4 to 6.6 +/- 0.4 L/min.m2 (NS) and to decrease heart rate, from 122 to 116 beats/min (NS); the resulting stroke volume index increased with urapidil from 49 +/- 3 to 57 +/- 4 ml/m2 (p less than 0.01); at rest, urapidil did not induce alteration in gas exchange, while during exercise, C(a-v)O2 decreased from 8.6 +/- 0.5 to 7.7 +/- 0.4 vol% (p less than 0.01), SVO2 increased from 39.5 +/- 2 to 44.5 +/- 1.5% (p less than 0.01), and SaO2 from 82 +/- 2 to 85 +/- 2% (p less than 0.03).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)