Related Experiment Videos
Preserving target-organ function with candesartan cilexetil in patients with hypertension
1Service de Cardiologie, Hôpital Central, Nancy, France.
Insights
Candesartan cilexetil effectively controls blood pressure and protects vital organs like the heart and kidneys. This hypertension treatment offers both antihypertensive and organ-protective benefits for optimal patient management.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Nephrology
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Hypertension management requires both blood pressure control and target-organ protection.
- Reducing blood pressure alone may not prevent chronic organ damage in hypertensive patients.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the organ-protective effects of candesartan cilexetil in hypertensive patients.
- To assess the impact of candesartan cilexetil on cardiac and renal function.
Main Methods:
- Clinical studies assessed left ventricular hypertrophy, renal hemodynamics, and urinary albumin excretion.
- Patients received candesartan cilexetil at varying doses and durations.
Main Results:
- Candesartan cilexetil induced regression of left ventricular hypertrophy within 8-12 weeks.
- The drug improved renal hemodynamics and significantly reduced urinary albumin excretion in diabetic patients with microalbuminuria.
Conclusions:
- Candesartan cilexetil demonstrates significant antihypertensive efficacy and tolerability.
- The drug offers crucial renal and cardioprotective effects, essential for optimal hypertension management.
Abstract:
Epidemiological evidence suggests that reducing blood pressure alone in hypertensive patients delays the onset of cardiovascular events without necessarily preventing the progression of chronic target-organ disease, such as end-stage renal failure and heart failure. Successful clinical management of hypertensive patients will therefore not be possible unless therapies are aimed both at the effective control of blood pressure and at the preservation of target-organ function. The new angiotensin II type I (AT1) receptor blocker candesartan cilexetil has been shown to be effective in reducing target-organ damage in animal models of hypertension, even at doses that do not produce significant reductions in blood pressure. Protective effects of candesartan cilexetil towards the heart and kidney have also been demonstrated in the clinical studies that have been conducted to date. Thus, candesartan cilexetil has been shown to induce regression of left ventricular hypertrophy within 8-12 weeks of treatment and to improve renal haemodynamics, both acutely and after 6 weeks of treatment in hypertensive patients. Furthermore, in hypertensive patients with co-existent non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and microalbuminuria, 12 weeks of treatment with candesartan cilexetil, 8-16 mg, significantly reduced urinary albumin excretion. Clinical evidence is therefore accumulating that the antihypertensive efficacy and tolerability profile already established for candesartan cilexetil is combined with the renal and cardioprotective effects necessary for optimal management of hypertension.