Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 9, Issue 21, 2003

Management of hypertension has evolved steadily through 25 years of major clinical trials results modifying both the definition of hypertension and clinical management strategies. Trials experience in heart failure is much less extensive given the far smaller therapeutic market and traditionally often followed on the establishment of an agent or class of therapy in hypertension. Separate product profile development in heart failu Read More

The combination of investigation of rare Mendelian forms of hypertension, candidate gene studies, comparative mapping and genome-wide screening in both animal models and man has led to significant progress in determining new mechanisms of blood pressure control. In this review, the newly discovered blood pressure / cardiovascular genes, WNK kinases and angiotensin converting enzyme 2 and the development of Read More

Physiological and pharmacological responses may be influenced by ethnicity as a result of genetic factors, environmental factors and / or their interaction. This review is divided into 2 parts. Firstly, there will be overview of ethnicity as a determinant of drug metabolism and response with reference to antihypertensive agents. The concept of ethnicity has been applied extensively to the study of hypertension especially in A Read More

Hypertension and cardiac arrhythmias commonly coexist in many patients. In this review, we will initially discuss arrhythmogenesis in hypertension, with particular emphasis on atrial and ventricular tachyarrhythmias and sudden cardiac death, whilst in the final part, we will focus our attention on the effects of anti-hypertensive therapies on supra-ventricular and ventricular arrhythmias and on sudden cardiac death prevention. Ma Read More

Hypertension is associated with the flow of blood under high pressures, yet the complications of hypertension, such as myocardial infarction or stroke are paradoxically thrombotic rather than haemorrhagic. This could be explained by increasing evidence which suggests that hypertension fulfils the pre-requisites of the Virchow's triad for thrombogenesis, leading to a prothrombotic or hypercoagulable state. Hypertension le Read More

Arterial Hypertension (AH) is characterized by reduced nitric oxide (NO) biosynthesis, activation of the Renin- Angiotensin-Aldosteron-System (RAAS), vasoconstriction, and microvascular rarefaction. The latter contributes to target organ damage, especially in left ventricular hypertrophy, and may partially be due to impaired angiogenesis. Angiogenesis, the formation of new microvessels and microvascular networks from Read More

The hypertensive disorders of pregnancy complicate 5-10% of pregnancies. Of these disorders 70% are pregnancy related (preeclampsia-eclampsia and gestation hypertension) and 30 % are a pre-existing hypertensive condition (chronic hypertension). These disorders are associated with maternal and fetal complications and have a substantial economic impact. This review examined the pharmacological treatment of Read More