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 .
A new treatment of severe pre-eclampsia by long-term epidural anaesthesia
We hypothesised that long term epidural anaesthesia suppresses sympathetic overactivity in pre-eclampsia . Two equal groups of severe pre-eclamptic patients were treated either with long-term epidural anaesthesia ( epidural group ) or bed rest , diet control , and an antihypertensive drug ( control group ) . After 7 days of epidural block , mean arterial blood pressures decreased , platelet count and serum total protein increased in all cases while proteinuria decreased in four cases . All patients treated with a long-term epidural therapy continued their pregnancies for more than 3 weeks after admission . The infants in the epidural group had 1-min Apgar scores above 8 , a body weight of 2240 ± 310 g ( mean ± s.d . ) and normal neonatal progress . In contrast , the pregnancies of eight patients in the control group were terminated within 2 weeks of admission due to severe pre-eclampsia or foetal distress , the birth weight of the infants was 1590 ± 380 g ( mean ± s.d . ) and four had neonatal distress . Progressive worsening in the mean arterial pressure , proteinuria , platelet count and serum total protein was found in these patients . Long-term epidural anaesthesia suppresses the sympathetic hyperactivity and thus improves pre-eclamptic condition  which may open a new treatment in case of progressive severe pre-eclampsia
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 .