Blood pressure lowering helpful after stroke
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After people suffer a Stroke, lowering their blood pressure can slow or even stop the progression of lesions in the brain, new research suggests. The areas of damage are called white matter hyperintensities, or WMHs, because they show up brightly on MRI, and they have been linked to the development of dementia and Depression.
“Several studies have linked WMHs with hypertension, but it was unknown if blood pressure lowering could slow the progression of these lesions,” said Dr. Christophe Tzourio, from Hopital La Salpetriere in Paris.
Tzourio and his colleague evaluated 192 subjects with Stroke who were enrolled in a trial that examined the benefits of blood pressure-lowering to prevent repeat Strokes. As part of the study, the subjects were given an ACE-inhibitor alone or in combination with a diuretic, or an inactive placebo.
MRI was performed at the beginning of the study and at about 36 months, to assess and grade WMHs, according to the report in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation.
At follow-up, subjects treated with active agents had a significant drop in blood pressure compared with those given placebo. Treatment with antihypertensive agents cut the risk of new WMHs by 43 percent and was associated with a drop in WMH volume, the team found.
“Although we’ve not demonstrated that blood pressure-lowering stops dementia in these patients, it seems logical that if it slows the progression of WMHs, it would also help prevent dementia,” Tzourio noted.
Circulation 2005.
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