Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to G W Frost.
A patient with mild chronic renal failure developed significant hyperkalaemia while receiving indomethacin therapy. The hyperkalaemia, which was reversed by discontinuing indomethacin, is attributed to a drug-induced defect in the cellular uptake of potassium.
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1. The fall in blood pressure produced by a test dose of prazosin was greater in a group of patients with chronic renal failure than in a group with normal renal function. 2. This difference could not be attributed to increased reactivity, measured as the slope of the regression line relating mean blood pressure and plasma prazosin concentration, nor to retarded elimination of the drug. 3. The enhanced antihypertensive effect of prazosin in renal failure appears to reflect changes in the bioavailability or distribution of the drug, which result in higher drug concentrations for a given dose.
Blood pressure responses to the infusion of saralasin and plasma renin levels were measured in 31 hypertensive patients following preparation with frusemide. Five patients had unilateral renal artery stenosis, with renal vein ratios lateralising strongly to the affected side. Saralasin produced depressor responses in 3 of these but failed to evoke significant effects in the other 2, despite the fact that in both cases hypertension was subsequently alleviated by renal bypass surgery. A further period of more severe sodium depletion increased plasma renin levels and the depressor effect of saralasin, but did not help to differentiate renal artery stenosis from other forms of hypertension.
Labetalol, a combined alpha-blocking and beta-blocking agents, was administered by intravenous bolus to six severely hypertensive patients. The blood pressure response was unsatisfactory in every case. It is concluded that intravenous administration of labetalol is not useful in hypertensive emergencies which occur in patients who are already receiving other antihypertensive agents.