Cyclosporine-associated hypertension in cardiopulmonary transplantation. The beneficial effect of nifedipine on renal function.

Abstract

In a retrospective review of fifty heart, lung, and heart-lung recipients receiving cyclosporine, forty-six (92%) were hypertensive. This hypertension was managed with either prazosin (n = 29) or nifedipine (n = 17). Renal function was assessed by creatinine clearance estimation and found to be significantly better in those patients receiving nifedipine. (creatinine clearance = 60 ml/min [SEM 5.7] vs. 49 ml/min [SEM 2.7]; P less than 0.05). This observation suggests that nifedipine should be the drug of choice for the treatment of cyclosporine-associated hypertension in cardiac and pulmonary transplant recipients.