Drugs for acute blood pressure control are often required during a cardiovascular operation. Hypertension frequently occurs in an off-pump coronary artery bypass graft. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of nicardipine on hemodynamic change. Twenty adult patients were studied. Anesthesia was induced intravenously with thiopental (4 mg/kg), vecuronium (1 mg/kg), and fentanyl (4microgram/kg), and maintained with 100% O2 and isoflurane 1 1.5 Vol%. When systolic blood pressure rose above 150 mmHg, nicardipine 1 mg was administrated intravenously. Immediately after the nicardipine bolus injection, nicardipine was infused continuously 0.5 4microgram/kg/min. Thereafter, hemodynamic data was recorded. Systolic blood pressure decreased, but cardiac index significantly increased after an intravenous administration of nicardipine and was maintained during the study. There was no incidence of tachycardia. It was concluded that acute blood pressure control using nicardipine could be suitable and safe in patients with an off-pump CABG.