Severe hypertension: 'Silent killer' still on... (is a very common problem but we really k...)

Severe hypertension: 'Silent killer' still on the loose

Date:1/31/2008

is a very common problem, but we really know very little about it. There is a huge need to improve care for these patients.

Dr. Solomon Aronson, an anesthesiologist at Duke, sees danger in high blood pressure from another angle. Aronson has spent years trying to discover the sweet spot, or ideal range, of blood pressure during cardiac surgeries. Aronson led a team of investigators that analyzed over 3 million blood pressure readings in the records of 5238 cardiac surgical patients at Duke over a nine-year period They discovered that when patients systolic blood pressure readings fell below 95 or went higher than 135, there was a greater risk of death within the following month, with the risk of death increasing with the amount and duration of the deviation from that range.

This is the first time that anyone has determined the optimal range for blood pressure management during these procedures, says Aronson, who adds that different ranges might be more appropriate for other types of surgery.

Aronson says blood pressure management has become such a routine responsibility during surgery that physicians may have developed an attitude of therapeutic inertia. These data suggest that drifting off the road and onto the shoulder when you drive is not good for you. Were beginning to define the width of the road.

We still have a long way to go before we can understand and successfully manage the subtle and complex effects that targeted blood pressure control has on overall health, he says. Just because high blood pressure is a common problem doesnt mean that we know how best how to deal with it.

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Contact: Michelle Gailiun
michelle.gailiun@duke.edu
919-660-1306
Duke University Medical Center
Source:Eurekalert

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