Minoxidil and Improvement of Renal Function in Uremic Malignant Hypertension

Excerpt

The article by Mitchell and her colleagues in this issue (1) carries an important practical message: Severely compromised renal function associated with malignant hypertension can be improved by controlling the blood pressure with minoxidil. The report cites three patients, in a series of nine with malignant stages of hypertension, whose creatinine levels of 9 to 13 mg/dL before minoxidil treatment decreased by more than two thirds to 2 to 4 mg/dL during minoxidil treatment. (Note that the authors list four "improved patients," but in one the preminoxidil creatinine level was not very high and the decrease in serum creatinine was