Hydralazine was the most common drug for others to be evaluated against .
Diazoxide , given as 75 mg bolus injections , appears to be associated with maternal hypotension requiring treatment , and ketanserin is less effective than hydralazine at reducing blood pressure .
There is no other clear evidence that any one of the other antihypertensive agents is better than another for women with severe hypertension during pregnancy .
Exceptions are diazoxide and ketanserin , which are probably not good choices
BACKGROUND Very high blood pressure during pregnancy poses a serious threat to women and their babies .
The use of drugs to lower blood pressure will reduce this risk for the women , and possibly also for the baby .
OBJECTIVES The objective of this review was to compare different antihypertensive drugs used for treatment of severe hypertension during pregnancy .
Change in estimated cerebral perfusion pressure after treatment with nimodipine or magnesium sulfate in patients with preeclampsia.
OBJECTIVE Data are accumulating to suggest that cerebral perfusion pressure may be either abnormally high or low in preeclampsia and eclampsia . Little is known of the cerebral perfusion pressure effects of magnesium sulfate or nimodipine . Our objective in this study was to compare the change in cerebral perfusion pressure in patients with severe preeclampsia r and omly selected to receive nimodipine or magnesium sulfate .  STUDY DESIGN Patients with severe preeclampsia were r and omly selected to receive magnesium sulfate ( 6 g bolus and 2 g/hr intravenous infusion ) or nimodipine ( 60 mg taken orally every 4 hours ) . Transcranial Doppler ultrasonography was used to measure flow velocities in the right and left middle cerebral arteries , and the results were averaged . Measurements were obtained before treatment ( baseline ) and 30 minutes after the magnesium sulfate bolus was completely infused or 30 minutes after the nimodipine was ingested . Studies were performed before any other intervention . The person performing the ultrasonography was unaware of the patient 's group assignment . Estimated cerebral perfusion pressure was calculated with the following formula : Estimated cerebral perfusion pressure = Velocity(mean ) x [ ( Blood pressure(mean ) - Blood pressure(diastolic ) ) /(Velocity(mean ) - Velocity(diastolic ) ) ] . The difference between estimated cerebral perfusion pressure at baseline and after treatment was compared between the 2 groups by means of the Mann-Whitney rank sum test . RESULTS Nine patients were r and omly selected to receive nimodipine and 12 to receive magnesium sulfate . Patient demographics and severity of condition were not significantly different between the 2 groups . The change in estimated cerebral perfusion pressure was significantly different between the groups . Estimated cerebral perfusion pressure increased after nimodipine use and decreased after magnesium sulfate use . CONCLUSION Shortly after administration to patients with severe preeclampsia , nimodipine result ed in increased cerebral perfusion pressure in comparison with magnesium sulfate
Hydralazine was the most common drug for others to be evaluated against .
Diazoxide , given as 75 mg bolus injections , appears to be associated with maternal hypotension requiring treatment , and ketanserin is less effective than hydralazine at reducing blood pressure .
There is no other clear evidence that any one of the other antihypertensive agents is better than another for women with severe hypertension during pregnancy .
Exceptions are diazoxide and ketanserin , which are probably not good choices
BACKGROUND Very high blood pressure during pregnancy poses a serious threat to women and their babies .
The use of drugs to lower blood pressure will reduce this risk for the women , and possibly also for the baby .
OBJECTIVES The objective of this review was to compare different antihypertensive drugs used for treatment of severe hypertension during pregnancy .