Blood pressure lowering in acute ischemic stroke: new evidence

Craig Anderson, PhD, The George Institute for Global Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, shares his thoughts on the need for a randomized clinical trial of blood pressure (BP) lowering in acute ischemic stroke. New evidence from several studies was presented at ESOC 2024, including the TRUTH study which investigated the value of active BP lowering prior to intravenous thrombolysis versus waiting for BP to drop spontaneously below protocoled thresholds. The results showed a shift towards worse functional outcomes associated with active BP lowering, although this was not statistically significant. INTERACT4 was also presented, which showed that ambulance-initiated BP lowering treatment was associated with a significantly higher likelihood of poor functional outcome in patients with ischemic stroke, compared to usual BP management upon arrival to hospital. Prof. Anderson questions whether further randomized evidence is necessary based on these data. This interview took place at the 10th European Stroke Organisation Conference (ESOC) 2024 in Basel, Switzerland.
These works are owned by Magdalen Medical Publishing (MMP) and are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All rights are reserved.