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Why is everyone obsessed about blood pressure management in stroke?
Greater than 60% of patients with stroke have elevated blood pressure, and 15% have a systolic blood pressure (SBP) greater than184 mmHg. That is more common in hemorrhagic stroke than ischemic stroke.
Whether it's an acute hypertensive response or a premorbid uncontrolled hypertension, it is likely to negatively affect the clinical course and neurological outcome.
Below is a suumary of the current guidelines for blood pressure management of stroke subtypes; for a more detailed summary of the guidelines, refer to the original article (below)
Ischemic stroke:
Lytic patients have a target SBP of <185mmHg, whereas nonlytic patients have a higher SBP target of <220mmHg
Hemorrhagic Stroke:
Non-aneurysmal hemorrhage patients with a SBP >180mmHg have a target SBP of <160 mmHg, whereas if their SBP was 150-220 mmHg then lowering it to 140 mmHg is safe. Patients with aneurysmal hemorrhage have a target SBP of <160mmHg
References
Miller J et al. Management of Hypertension in Stroke. Ann Emerg Med 2014;64:248-255