Study flags caution on intensive BP lowering in haemorrhagic stroke
The research sheds new light on outcomes for patients with a cerebral bleed and systolic blood pressure above 220mmHg, specialists say
Patients with extremely high systolic blood pressure who have an intracerebral haemorrhage fare better if antihypertensive therapy is not too aggressive, a post-hoc analysis of a major trial suggests.
The analysis found double the rate of neurological deterioration but no survival benefit with intensive versus standard blood-pressure lowering among patients whose systolic blood pressure was above 220mmHg on admission.
The original trial, ATACH-II (Antihypertensive Treatment of Acute Cerebral Haemorrhage-II), randomised