Address of Corresponding Author

Cerebrovasc Dis 2005;19:253-259 (DOI: 10.1159/000084089)

  Key Words

• Stroke
• Cerebral autoregulation
• Bendrofluazide
• Blood pressure

  Abstract

Introduction: Blood pressure (BP) levels, beat-to-beat blood pressure variability, dynamic cerebral autoregulation and cardiac baroreceptor sensitivity are frequently abnormal following acute stroke and are associated with an adverse short- and long-term prognosis. Thiazide diuretics are effective antihypertensive agents in preventing primary and secondary stroke, but their hypotensive and cerebral autoregulatory effects in the immediate post-stroke period have not been studied. Methods: Thirty-seven hypertensive neuroradiologically proven ischaemic stroke patients were randomized in a double-blind, placebo controlled, parallel group study to bendrofluazide 2.5 mg daily or matching placebo, within 96 h of stroke onset, for a 7-day period. Casual and non-invasive beat-to-beat arterial BP levels, cerebral blood flow velocity, ECG and transcutaneous carbon dioxide levels were measured within 70 ± 20 h of cerebral infarction and again 7 days later. Dynamic cerebral autoregulatory indices, pulse interval, BP variability and cardiac baroreceptor sensitivity were also calculated. Results: Small, non-significant falls were seen in casual and beat-to-beat BP levels over the 7-day period in both active and placebo-treated patients with no differences between treatments. No significant changes were seen in dynamic cerebral autoregulation or in cardiac baroreceptor sensitivity during the follow-up in either group. Conclusion: Following acute ischaemic stroke, the standard dose of bendrofluazide at 2.5 mg daily in this study sample did not lower systemic BP levels over the subsequent 7-day period. There was no evidence that bendrofluazide significantly altered cerebral autoregulation or improved cardiac baroreceptor sensitivity post-ictus. Bendrofluazide appears to be an ineffective hypotensive agent at the standard dosage in the initial post-stroke period.

Copyright © 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel

  Author Contacts

Prof. J.F. Potter
University of Leicester, Department of Cardiovascular Sciences
Ageing and Stroke Medicine Group, The Glenfield Hospital
Leicester, LE3 9QP (UK)
Tel. +44 116 2563643, Fax +44 116 2322976, E-Mail penny.eames@UHL-tr.nhs.uk

  Article Information

Received: April 26, 2004
Accepted: November 3, 2004
Published online: February 22, 2005
Number of Print Pages : 7
Number of Figures : 0, Number of Tables : 4, Number of References : 26