[Modern therapy of hypertension]

Patients with essential arterial hypertension either have or do not have compelling reasons for specific drug classes. Patients lacking a compelling reason for a specific drug class are those without target organ damage (e.g. left ventricular hypertrophy, microalbuminuria, proteinuria, atherosclerosis) and without comorbidities. In these patients antihypertensive treatment can be initiated with Diuretics and perhaps Betablockers. Calciumantagonists, ACE-Inhibitors and Angiotensin II-Receptorenblockers (Sartans) are unlikely to be superior. However, adverse effects, patient preferences and antihypertensive efficacy of a drug in the particular individual ultimately determine the "choice" of the medication. In patients with a compelling reason for an individual drug class, i.e., in patients with target organ damage (e.g. left ventricular hypertrophy, microalbuminuria, proteinuria) or very high cardiovascular risk (e.g. Diabetes) Angiotensin II-Receptorblockers or ACE-Inhibitors should be used initially. In many hypertensives blood pressure will normalize in response to a combination therapy only. Usually, addition of a low dose thiazide to another drug class is the most beneficial combination. In most patients resistant to therapy, a 24-h-ambulatory blood pressure measurement to exclude white coat hypertension or a white coat component, evaluation of medication compliance, non-pharmacological measures and the tailored use of diuretics and other optimizations of therapy will lead to success.