[Pitfalls in hypertension management--misjudgements in diagnosis and therapy]

A 71-year-old woman with arterial hypertension, diabetes type 2, peripheral vascular disease and Sjögren's syndrome presented with progressive weakness, dizziness, insomnia, palpitations and headache. These symptoms did not improve by changing her antihypertensive treatment. The patient's general condition was quite normal and there were no signs of acute or chronic cardiopulmonary decompensation.

Besides arterial hypertension, she also had an elevated body mass index, dyslipoproteinemia, microalbuminuria, diabetic metabolism, left ventricular hypertrophy with signs of an abnormal diastolic cardiac function as well as atherosclerotic lesions (in both carotid arteries) which were identified as the patient's cardiovascular risk factors. Ambulant blood pressure monitoring revealed decreasing BP values for a period of 5 hrs after drug intake but, subsequently, severe hypertensive values (up to 220 mmHg systolic) without adequate decrease at night. Moreover, a hyperkinetic regulation of her circulation was demonstrated by hemodynamic monitoring and assessment of the autonomic nervous system.

By changing drug treatment, i. e. administration of an anti-adrenergic calcium antagonist of the non-dihydropyridine type combined with an ACE inhibitor and a diuretic, respectively, (both given in fixed combinations) led to the normalization of the blood pressure and pulse rate as well as an improvement of the patient's condition.

This case emphasizes the importance of ambulant blood pressure monitoring and an assessment of the heart rate in individually adapted antihypertensive drug therapy. The application of metabolically neutral fixed drug combinations with special regard to associated diseases, organ protection and the patient's compliance resulted in normotensive blood pressure values and an improvement of the quality of life.