Management of hypertension emergencies

Although they have become less common, hypertensive emergencies occur with an incidence of approximately 1 to 2/100,000 people per year. Our knowledge about this problem, its pathophysiology, risk factors, and appropriate treatment options has expanded during the past decade. A hypertensive emergency can be declared when an elevated blood pressure is associated with acute target-organ damage. Rapid evaluation and treatment (typically with an intravenously administered agent) should be instituted, usually in an intensive care unit setting, and the patient should be observed carefully during acute blood-pressure lowering. When properly treated, the prognosis for these patients is not nearly as dismal as it was more than 60 years ago, and the initial level of function of target organs (brain, heart, kidneys) is more indicative of an emergency than the actual level of blood pressure. Therapeutic options include the time-tested sodium nitroprusside (which has toxic metabolic products and is contraindicated in pregnancy, tobacco amblyopia, and Leber's optic atrophy); fenoldopam mesylate; and nicardipine. When properly treated, "malignant hypertension" need be considered malignant no longer.