Rapid Blood-Pressure Lowering in Patients with Acute Intracerebral Hemorrhage: Anderson CS, Heeley E, Huang Y, et al. N Engl J Med 2013;368:2355–65.

Abstract

This multicenter randomized controlled trial compared current guideline-recommended systolic blood pressure (SBP) control of < 180 mm Hg for hypertensive patients after acute intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) to an intensive strategy targeting SBP of < 140 mm Hg. Patients were included if the ICH onset was within 6 h of presentation, and if they were hypertensive with SBP of 150–220 mm Hg. Patients were excluded if they had a Glasgow Coma Scale score of < 6, if they had a massive hematoma with poor prognosis, or if early surgery was planned.