REVIEW ER 'S CONCLUSIONS It remains unclear whether antihypertensive drug therapy for mild-moderate hypertension during pregnancy is worthwhile
BACKGROUND Mild-moderate hypertension during pregnancy is common .
Antihypertensive drugs are often used in the belief that lowering blood pressure will prevent progression to more severe disease , and thereby improve outcome .
OBJECTIVES To assess the effects of antihypertensive drug treatments for women with mild to moderate hypertension during pregnancy .
The effect of nitric oxide on uterine and umbilical artery flow velocity waveform in pre-eclampsia.
We compared the flow velocity waveforms of uterine and umbilical arteries in normotensive and pre-eclamptic patients at mid-gestation . In a r and omised controlled trial we tested the effects of isosorbide dinitrate ( ISDN , nitric oxide donor ) patch therapy on the flow velocity waveform of pre-eclamptic patients at mid-gestation . The resistance indices ( RI ) of human uterine and umbilical arteries were higher in pre-eclamptic patients compared to the normotensive patients . ISDN patch therapy significantly reduced the increased RI values of the umbilical artery in pre-eclamptic patients without any change in systemic blood pressures , but the RI values of the uterine artery were not significantly attenuated . The change of the umbilical artery might be due to the improvement of end-diastolic flow velocity . These results suggest that the feto-placental circulation in pre-eclampsia , perhaps due to the disturbance of the endothelium-dependent vaso-relaxation system , and that ISDN therapy may improve the impaired endothelium dependent nitric oxide system
REVIEW ER 'S CONCLUSIONS It remains unclear whether antihypertensive drug therapy for mild-moderate hypertension during pregnancy is worthwhile
BACKGROUND Mild-moderate hypertension during pregnancy is common .
Antihypertensive drugs are often used in the belief that lowering blood pressure will prevent progression to more severe disease , and thereby improve outcome .
OBJECTIVES To assess the effects of antihypertensive drug treatments for women with mild to moderate hypertension during pregnancy .