title: [Usefulness of sublingual captopril in hypertensive emergencies. Preliminary results].
abstract: The aim of this study, whose preliminary findings are reported, is to evaluate the efficacy of captopril, administered by a sublingual route, in the treatment of hypertensive emergencies. Captopril has been given by this route to 20 hypertensive patients while these had an ongoing hypertensive crisis (defined as a systolic arterial pressure above 200 mmHg associated with a diastolic arterial pressure above 115 mmHg). Arterial pressure has been measured after 5, 20, 10, 15, 30, 45, 60 and 120 min. For 8 patients it has been measured until the eighth hour. Results were the following: a satisfactory control of hypertensive crisis in 85% of patients, as stated by a slight but significant drop of arterial pressure after 10 min (15/10 mmHg; p less than 0.05) and by a maximum antihypertensive effect after 30 min (57/39 mmHg; p less than 0.001); an antihypertensive effect was evident until 6 hours after the administration of the drug; a positive correlation between the antihypertensive effect and pretreatment levels of arterial pressure and plasma renin activity; drug was free from relevant side effects; sublingual captopril can be considered an efficacious, easy to use and valuable tool in the treatment of hypertensive emergencies.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guerrera
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Melina
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Capaldi
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tatulli
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cardillo
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guerrera
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mauro
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Musumeci
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Savi
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Folli
mesh_terms: D000286:Administration, Sublingual; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002216:Captopril / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004341:Drug Evaluation; D004630:Emergencies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012083:Renin / Q000097:blood; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D002216:Captopril; D012083:Renin
vernacular_title: Utilità del captopril sublinguale nelle emergenze ipertensive. Risultati preliminari.