Protocolo diagnóstico y tratamiento de las crisis hipertensivas

Abstract

Hypertensive crises are clinical situations which involve an acute rise in blood pressure (BP) that require swift diagnosis and appropriate treatment to prevent increasing organic dysfunction. The clinical history, physical examination and elementary complementary tests will allow us to differentiate between two entities: hypertensive urgency and emergency. A hypertensive urgency is defined as raised BP without injury to a target organ. The therapeutic target will be to gradually reduce the BP in the following days using orally administered drugs with a long half-life. A hypertensive emergency involves raised BP associated with injury to a target organ (the heart, kidneys or cerebrovascular) and it is a life-threatening risk for the patient. It requires immediate intravenous antihypertensive treatment, continuous haemodynamic monitoring and a rapid partial fall in BP.