Role of blood pressure control in all acute cerebrovascular accidents with hypertension

Various risk factors have been implicated in causation of stroke but hypertension remains the single most important treatable risk factor in all age groups, and it is the one which seems to have a direct relation to incidence. Furthermore antihypertensive therapy has been observed to be effective in reducing the incidence of CVD (cerebrovascular disease). The interaction between hypertension, antihypertensive treatment and stroke is a complex one. Nevertheless the conclusion is that antihypertensive treatment has definite beneficial effects on stroke. Limited data are available to guide the choice of a target for the systolic blood-pressure level when treating acute hypertensive response in patients with intra cerebral hemorrhage. In this study, a total of 55 patients who presented with CVD and with hypertension (stage 1 and 2 of JNC 7) were included in this study. Out of 55, 37 (67%) cases are ischemic and 18 (33%) cases were due to cerebral hemorrhage. In ischemic stroke 35 (63.5%) cases are thrombotic, 2 (3.5%) are embolic strokes. All patients were given treatment with oral Nifedipine retard preparation 10-20mg q 8th hourly or Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (which also stabilizes endothelium of the vasculature), along with other conservative treatment and physiotherapy. Patients with intra cerebral haemorrhage were treated with Nimodipine 60 mg q 8th hourly along with antihypertensive treatment. In our study, the reduction of blood pressure improved the outcome, and their Blood Pressure normalized without any complications. Blood pressure reduction in acute stroke, irrespective of the etiology improved the outcome. In our study, we reduced the BP in all acute CVA patients with hypertension to normal within 24-48 hours. This study suggested BP control improves the outcome, when compared to fatalities in other studies, where BP is not reduced acutely.