VASCULAR REACTIVITY STUDIES IN HYPERTENSION

Abstract

SummaryThe reactivity of the hand blood vessels to local intra‐arterial infusions of angiotensin and noradrenaline was studied in patients with primary, renovascular and malignant hypertension and correlated with plasma renin activity.In nineteen patients with primary hypertension and normal plasma renin activity the angiotensin and noradrenaline responses were within normal limits.In three patients with renovascular hypertension, each of whom had elevated plasma renin activity, there was a marked reduction in the reactivity of the hand vessels to angiotensin, whereas that to noradrenaline was at the upper limit of the normal range. One of these patients had a unilateral nephrectomy and following this her plasma renin activity, blood pressure and vascular reactivity to angiotensin returned to normal levels.In two patients with malignant hypertension plasma renin activity was elevated but the vascular reactivity to angiotensin and noradrenaline was normal.