Antihypertensive therapy in renal disease and transplantation

HYPERTENSION AND RENAL DISEASE: In experimental models of renal disease not only protein intake and hyperlipidaemia but also hypertension may contribute to the progressive deterioration in renal function; in these models an imbalance in intrarenal haemodynamics appears to be a particularly important factor. ANTIHYPERTENSIVE THERAPY: A reduction in arterial pressure can alter the course of human chronic renal disease. However, it is not clear whether any one class of antihypertensive drug is superior to any other class in these patients. Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors may prevent the progression from incipient to overt diabetic nephropathy and afford better protection than conventional treatment. In patients with non-diabetic renal disease there is no unequivocal evidence for a protective effect. In renal transplant recipients, mainly those taking cyclosporine, ACE inhibitors are equally effective compared to calcium antagonists in the control of hypertension, but their renal effects in transplant recipients without renal artery stenosis have not yet been assessed.