Modern Management of Hypertensive Emergencies

Acute increases of blood pressure values are common causes of patients' presentation to emergency departments, and their management represents a clinical challenge. They are usually described as 'hypertensive crises', 'hypertensive urgencies', terms that should be abandoned because they are misleading and inappropriate according to a recent task force of the European Society of Cardiology, which recommended to focus only on 'hypertensive emergencies'. The latter can be esasily identified by using the Brain, Arteries, Retina, Kidney, and/or Heart (BARKH) strategy as herein described. Although current guidelines recommendations/suggestions for treatment of these patients are not evidence-based, owing to the lack of randomized clinical trials, improved understanding of the underlying pathophysiology has changed the approach to management of the patients presenting with hypertensive emergencies in recent years. Starting from these premises and a systematic review of the available studies graded by their quality, using the AHA class of recommendation/level of evidence grading, whenever possible, we herein present a novel a streamlined symptoms- and evidence-based algorithm for the assessment and management of patients with hypertensive emergencies.

Automated summary

Acute increases in blood pressure leading patients to emergency departments are common and represent a clinical challenge. Recent recommendations from the European Society of Cardiology suggest focusing on 'hypertensive emergencies' and using the BARKH strategy for identification. Improved understanding of the underlying pathophysiology has influenced the management of patients with hypertensive emergencies in recent years.