Minoxidil in severe hypertension: Value when conventional drugs have failed

Minoxidil Therapy in Refractory Hypertension Analysis of 155 Patients

“…Our experience with Minoxidil in 12 patients with terminal renal failure and uncontrollable hypertension and the data from 143 patients published by others [5,13,15,18,20,21,24,29,34,35,40,48,49] form the The indication for the use of Minoxidil was the in ability to control blood pressure with other hypoten sive agents and in 1 patient (patient 6), severe postural hypotension as well. The initial dose of Minoxidil was 2.5-5.0 mg twice daily, and if the effect on blood pressure was not adequate, the dose o f the drug was increased in a stepwise manner to a maximum o f 40 mg/day.…”

“…Pulmonary hypertension has been reported during the long-term treatment with Minoxidil [5,37,48]. The rise in pulmonary pressure was attributed to increased cardiac output [5,37,48] or elevated pulmonary vascular resist ance [15,37,48].…”

“…The rise in pulmonary pressure was attributed to increased cardiac output [5,37,48] or elevated pulmonary vascular resist ance [15,37,48]. Recent studies do not support these observations.…”

The second Lilly Prize Lecture, University of Newcastle, July 1977. beta‐Adrenergic receptor blockade in hypertension, past, present and future.

“…Wilburn, Blaufuss & Bennett (1975) gave a combination of average daily doses of propranolol 475 mg, minoxidil 33 mg, and frusemide 578 mg, and found it effective in patients whose hypertension was resistant to more conventional treatment. Other investigators used smaller doses of propranolol in combination with minoxidil and have successfully treated previously severe and refractory cases of hypertension (Gottlieb et al, 1972;Pettinger & Mitchell, 1976;Dormois et al, 1975).…”

Contemplating the history of drug therapy for hypertension

“…It leads to substantial sodium and fluid retention, tachycardia, hypertrichosis [59][60][61] and lesions of the right atrium in large doses in dogs [62]; T-wave changes in ECG were described in humans at the beginning of treatment, consisting of flattening or inversion which ranged from slight to very marked [63]. Hypertrichosis has been used to develop a preparation against balding, giving the impression that topically, in low doses, minoxidil might be safe [64].…”