Abstract
For studying the effects of lowered blood pressure induced by prolonged oral administration of hypotensive agents on the cerebral circulation and metabolism in essential hypertension, 7 cases with essential hypertension were administered with Serpasil alone and 4 cases with Serpasil in combination with Apresoline and the values concerning the cerebral circulation and metabolism before and after lowering blood pressure by those drugs were studied in comparison.
1. Following lowered blood pressure, cerebral vascular resistance (CVR) was found fallen in all the cases, cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral oxygen consumption (CMRO2) risen in most of the cases, showing a tendency to return to normal findings, but in a few cases of them CBF and CMRO2 were found unchanged or decreased.
2. The combined use of Serpasil and Apresoline was found more effective in improving the cerebral circulation and metabolism than the single use of Serpasil.
3. In general, the improvement in the cerebral circulation and metabolism following lowered blood pressure was more marked in the cases with mild retinal findings and less in those with advanced retinal findings, and in 2 cases with marked reduction of the blood pressure was observed an aggravation of cerebral circulation and metabolism and one of them was followed by complication with cerebral softning.
4. Details on one of the cases that showed improvement and one that showed deterioration after lowering blood pressure were given.
5. It was infered that for preventing serious complications by use of hypotensive agents much caution should be paid to avoid to lower the blood pressure excessively, taking the grade of retinal findings as index.
