Publisher's Synopsis
The past three decades have witnessed a veritable explosion in knowledge of high blood pressure and related cardiovascular phenomena. It revolves around two research tracks, one involving new physiologic and pathophysiologic mechanisms, the other the development of increasingly specific drugs to block homeostatic or pathogenic pressor mechanisms at specific points. It has become clear that all hypertension is not alike. It can no longer be analyzed and treated as if it were a single pathologic or clinical syndrome. This means that those millions of people the world over who have in common high blood pressure do not all have the same disorder. In this context, hypertension is a biophysical sign, for which there can be many different causes. It follows that there are differences in drug responsiveness according to these various biochemical characteristics. Thus it is appropriate for investigators and clinicians alike to consider human hypertension as a biophysical sign for which every resource should be mobilized to characterize its nuances in the individual patient. The goal in drug therapy is to select and verify the most effective and specific treatment for that individual.
