Home Blood Pressure Monitoring


Book Description

Hypertension remains a leading cause of disability and death worldwide. Self-monitoring of blood pressure by patients at home is currently recommended as a valuable tool for the diagnosis and management of hypertension. Unfortunately, in clinical practice, home blood pressure monitoring is often inadequately implemented, mostly due to the use of inaccurate devices and inappropriate methodologies. Thus, the potential of the method to improve the management of hypertension and cardiovascular disease prevention has not yet been exhausted. This volume presents the available evidence on home blood pressure monitoring, discusses its strengths and limitations, and presents strategies for its optimal implementation in clinical practice. Written by distinguished international experts, it offers a complete source of information and guide for practitioners and researchers dealing with the management of hypertension.




Carbon Dioxide Angiography


Book Description

With an abundance of illustrations and tables to highlight critical information, this source provides a practical approach to the use of CO2 as a contrast agent for diagnostic angiography, vascular intervention, and other interventional procedures in both adults and pediatrics. Clearly laying-out key points in the science, technique, and clinical a




Essential Hypertension and Its Causes


Book Description

This new account of the pathogenesis of essential hypertension (EH) represents a detailed analysis of the main components of the circulatory control system. The latter's properties resemble those of man-made adaptive control systems in which regulatory parameters are altered when operating conditions exceed certain limits, often through neural mechanisms. Inheritance of EH depends on both genes and environment. The high blood pressure (BP) genes have not yet been definitively identified, whilst the main environmental causes are mental stress, high dietary salt intake and obesity. EH occurs as two major syndromes, each initiated by chronic stress: 1) Stress-and-salt related EH, and 2) Hypertensive obesity. Stress is perceived by the cortex, from which increased dopaminergic (DA) neuron activity stimulates the hypothalamic defense area, raising sympathetic neural activity (SNA) and BP. Normally these subside quickly when the stress is over, but in those susceptible to EH the DA synapses become sensitized so that the defense response is evoked by ever lower levels of stress. Sensitization is common in memory circuits, but not in autonomic neurons, so that this property in EH may be genetically determined. Stress-related hypertension increases hypothalamic responsiveness to high salt, resulting in further rises in SNA and BP. Later, non-neural functional changes (e.g. reduction in nitric oxide) and the structural remodeling of resistance vessels further enhance the vasoconstriction. In contrast, in those developing hypertensive obesity food consumption is excessive, which transiently alleviates stress-related anxiety. The brain ignores the leptin-mediated signals that normally curb appetite, contrasting with normal energy regulation in SSR-EH. In hypertensive obesity, the SNA pattern is similar to that in SSR-EH, but vasoconstriction is masked by vasodilatation and fluid retention due to hyperinsulinemia. This syndrome is a volume overload hypertension, where high cardiac output, renal impairment and other non-neural factors contribute to the elevation of BP. Other topics include the role of various transmitters in autonomic regulation; the place of baroreflexes in the intact organism; why exercise training lowers resting BP; obstructive sleep apnea; non-pharmacological and drug treatment of EH; the role of the kidney in EH and in different types of renal hypertension and the pathogenesis of the Japanese spontaneously hypertensive rat, which provides a valuable animal model for EH. The work suggests that physiological systems analysis in a complex disorder like EH is a valuable tool for using the great advances in molecular biology to best advantage.




Diabetes and Hypertension


Book Description

Diabetes and hypertension have evolved as two of the modern day epidemics affecting millions of people around the world. These two common co-morbidities lead to substantial increase in cardiovascular disease, the major cause of morbidity and mortality of adults around the world. In Diabetes and Hypertension: Evaluation and Management, a panel of renowned experts address a range of critical topics -- from basic concepts in evaluation and management of diabetes and hypertension, such as dietary interventions, to evaluation and management of secondary hypertension in clinical practice. Other chapters focus on high cardiovascular risk populations such as those with coronary heart disease, chronic kidney disease and minority patients. In addition, evolving concepts and new developments in the field are presented in other chapters, such as prevention of type 2 diabetes and the epidemic of sleep apnea and its implication for diabetes and hypertension evaluation and management. An important title covering two of the most troubling disorders of our time, Diabetes and Hypertension: Evaluation and Management will provide the busy practitioner with cutting edge knowledge in the field as well as practical information that can translate into better care provided to the high-risk population of diabetics and hypertensive patients.




Hypertension and Cardiac Organ Damage


Book Description

This book identifies the key determinants in the management of hypertensive outpatients with Cardiac Target Organ Damage. It sheds light on current international guidelines by directly applying them to six representative clinical cases that reflect situations frequently encountered during clinical routine rather than emergencies or rare occurrences. The book enables cardiologists and angiologists alike to gain an overview of the most frequent cardiac dysfunctions related to hypertension: left atrial enlargement, aortic root dilatation, diastolic dysfunction, systolic dysfunction, left and right ventricular enlargement. Each case is illustrated and analyzed in detail – from family and personal history to treatment and follow-up – providing readers with valuable guidance that will help them to select the best suited diagnostic tool and treatment for each patient.







A Population-Based Policy and Systems Change Approach to Prevent and Control Hypertension


Book Description

Hypertension is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, affecting nearly one in three Americans. It is prevalent in adults and endemic in the older adult population. Hypertension is a major contributor to cardiovascular morbidity and disability. Although there is a simple test to diagnose hypertension and relatively inexpensive drugs to treat it, the disease is often undiagnosed and uncontrolled. A Population-Based Policy and Systems Change Approach to the Prevention and Control Hypertension identifies a small set of high-priority areas in which public health officials can focus their efforts to accelerate progress in hypertension reduction and control. It offers several recommendations that embody a population-based approach grounded in the principles of measurement, system change, and accountability. The recommendations are designed to shift current hypertension reduction strategies from an individual-based approach to a population-based approach. They are also designed to improve the quality of care provided to individuals with hypertension and to strengthen the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's leadership in seeking a reduction in the sodium intake in the American diet to meet dietary guidelines. The book is an important resource for federal public health officials and organizations, especially the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as medical professionals and community health workers.




The Fourth Report on the Diagnosis, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure in Children and Adolescents


Book Description

The fourth report from the Nat. High Blood Pressure Educ. Program (NHBPEP) Working Group on Children & Adolescents. This report updates clinicians on the latest recommendations concerning the diagnosis, evaluation, & treatment of hypertension in children; recommendations are based on English-language, peer-reviewed, scientific evidence (from 1997 to 2004) & the consensus expert opinion of the NHBPEP Working Group. This report includes new data from the 1999-2000 Nat. Health & Nutrition Exam. Survey, as well as revised blood pressure tables that include the 50th, 90th, 95th, & 99th percentiles by sex, age, & height. Charts & tables.




Hypertension and You


Book Description

Many of the nearly 70 million Americans with hypertension (high blood pressure) would like to bring it under control through lifestyle changes such as losing weight, cutting back on salt, exercising, or reducing stress. But, like it or not, most will require medication to get their blood pressure where it needs to be. The good news is that we have many excellent blood pressure medications which, when prescribed wisely, can control hypertension in almost everyone. The bad news is that, despite good intentions, doctors are placing millions of people who have hypertension on medications, drug combinations, or doses that are wrong for them, with staggering consequences that include uncontrolled hypertension, higher risk for stroke and heart attack, avoidable side effects, and billions of wasted health care dollars. Here, Dr. Mann, a nationally recognized hypertension specialist, identifies the drugs most likely to have side effects, and those that can be used in their place. He describes the shortcomings of some of the new drugs, while also introducing readers to some excellent old drugs that are woefully underused as a result of the publicity blitz surrounding the new, expensive ones. He emphasizes the importance of matching the medication and dosage to the individual who will be taking them, and presents the overlooked clues that can tell us who should be on which drug (even an excellent drug can be the wrong one if it is given to the wrong person or in the wrong dose). Hypertension and You is directed at the more than 50 million Americans (including a majority of people over the age of 60) who are taking blood pressure medication. Many patients suspect they might be on the wrong medication, but don’t know enough to be sure. This book shows how medications can be prescribed more wisely to achieve better results and gives patients the knowledge they need to capably discuss their medications with their health care providers. Hypertension and You provides many ideas and approaches that will be new to readers, and also to many physicians, and which no other book offers. It’s the first book to make the case that something is terribly wrong with how doctors are prescribing drugs for this condition. It provides readers with better knowledge of the available medications, empowering them to work with their physician to get onto the medications that are right for them.




Endocrine Hypertension


Book Description

Several genetic, biochemical and radiologic discoveries have impacted the management of endocrine hypertension, while surgical procedures have revolutionized treatment of patients with endocrine hypertension. This text contains the proceedings of a 2001 workshop on the topic.




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