Treatment of hypertensive emergencies with oral labetalol

Abstract

The blood pressure may be controlled rapidly in severe hypertension by giving intravenous labetalol (Trandate), which is effective within minutes. Three out of 16 patients treated in this way complained of faintness and sweating from the prompt fall in blood pressure.1To prevent this tendency a constant infusion technique has been developed, which gradually reduces blood pressure over several hours of careful adjustment of infusion rate and incremental dose against recorded blood pressure levels.2The complexity of this regimen makes it unsuitable for use in a general medical ward, and we have used oral labetalol, which is effective within two hours,3 to achieve satisfactory control of blood pressure in hypertensive emergencies. © 1978, British Medical Journal Publishing Group. All rights reserved.