[Blood redistribution between peripheral areas in patients with stage II essential hypertension during treatment with...

Impedance plethysmography was used to examine 38 patients (27 men and 11 women) with stage II essential hypertension according to the WHO classification. The patients' age ranged from 31 to 60 years (6.3 +/- 1.08 on the average), with the disease lasting from 1 to 16 years. It has been established that administration of propranolol at the daily dose of 120 to 160 mg for 10 to 12 days produces a varying effect on the cardiac output (CO) and peripheral blood supply depending on their initial magnitudes. In the majority of patients with the hyper- and eukinetic versions, the CO and peripheral blood supply decrease in all the areas examined (in the abdominal cavity, leg, finger and head) whereas in patients with the hypokinetic version, they rise. The relatively normal regional blood supply drops whereas in the majority of patients it increases provided it was at a lower level before. Blood redistribution ameliorates the blood supply to the areas marked by a low initial level but makes it worse in the areas with a relatively normal magnitude. The peripheral blood supply gets deteriorated in the majority of patients. In contract to the arterial blood supply, the specific blood volume that primarily characterizes the amount of the venous blood in the given area undergoes redistribution in the peripheral areas in the majority of propranolol-treated patients with all the types of hemodynamics. The pattern of its alterations in the chest and, in the majority of patients, in the abdominal cavity is always related to the initial level.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)