What is malignant hypertension? Symptoms of malignant hypertension

Malignant hypertension is an acute disease that greatly affects the health of patients, many cases of acute hypertension without timely treatment have left many complications for patients, even death. What is malignant hypertension? How can a patient with malignant hypertension be quickly identified?

Malignant hypertension is known as the "silent killer", if the patient is not treated promptly, it can lead to serious complications such as stroke, angina, heart failure - acute pulmonary edema even is death. What is malignant hypertension? How to recognize malignant hypertension? Please follow the article below of SignsSymptomsList to get the above question answered.

What is malignant hypertension?

Blood pressure is the pressure the blood exerts on the walls of the arteries as it circulates to the organs of the body. Peripheral resistance and force of contraction of the heart are the two main factors that create blood pressure. In fact, everyone's blood pressure is not exactly the same, but there will be certain differences. However, with the characteristics of the Vietnamese population, a normal person has a systolic blood pressure of about 120 mmHg, a diastolic blood pressure of about 80 mmHg. When these indicators suddenly increase very high and develop rapidly, causing damage to the target organs, especially those sensitive to blood pressure such as the brain, heart, kidneys, eyes, it is called hypertension. malignant pressure. Today, the term malignant hypertension is often used when a patient has a severely elevated blood pressure reading such as:

• Systolic blood pressure above 180 mmHg.
• Diastolic blood pressure above 120 mmHg.

A malignant hypertensive crisis needs to be detected and treated immediately because the internal organs are heavily influenced by blood pressure, if not quickly adjusted to bring blood pressure to a safe level, it is very easy. cause many dangerous complications for patients such as heart failure, acute infarction, stroke , blindness, kidney failure... In fact, malignant hypertension can directly threaten human life if not treated.

High blood pressure above 180/120 mmHg is considered malignant hypertension

What is the cause of malignant hypertension?

Malignant hypertension is rare, with the majority of cases occurring in people with a history of pre-existing hypertension. However, it is also more common in men and people with a long history of smoking. A 2012 study demonstrated that about 1-2% of people with high blood pressure progress to a malignant hypertensive crisis. In addition, several other factors also increase the risk of disease such as:

• Renal dysfunction, renal failure.
• Spinal cord injury.
• Renal artery stenosis.
• Aortic valve stenosis.
• Scleroderma collagen vascular disease.
• Central nervous system disorders, such as head injury, cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage .
• Because the patient suddenly stopped using the blood pressure medication or did not follow the doctor's treatment method.
• Excessive use of drugs containing cocaine, amphetamines, birth control pills or monoamine oxidase inhibitors.
• Preeclampsia is common in 20 weeks pregnant, but can sometimes happen earlier or later in pregnancy, and some women can still have it after giving birth.

What are the causes of malignant hypertension?

Symptoms of malignant hypertension

Malignant hypertension is also known as the "silent killer", because the disease progresses quite silently, without any obvious signs or symptoms, but causes very serious consequences. burden for the patient. However, through the process of research and review, it has been found that some other features of malignant hypertension compared with normal hypertension are:

• Severe headache.
• The patient feels shortness of breath, chest tightness as if something heavy is pressing on him.
• Dizziness, nausea, vomiting.
• Vision is altered, limiting your ability to see and can sometimes lead to short-term blurred vision.
• Numbness of the facial muscles and muscles of the arms and legs.
• The mind becomes tense, difficult to concentrate to complete the work.
• Changes in mental status: Anxiety, confusion, decreased alertness, decreased ability to concentrate, fatigue, drowsiness, stupor.
• Change in urination habits: Frequent urination, needing to urinate but not being able to urinate.
• A rapid rise in blood pressure of 180/120 mmHg or higher.
• Bleeding and swelling of the small blood vessels in the retina of the eye.

In addition to the common symptoms mentioned above, some cases of malignant hypertension due to brain damage also appear other signs such as convulsions, hemiplegia , temporary loss of consciousness...

Patients with malignant hypertension often present with severe headaches

What are the complications of malignant hypertension?

Malignant hypertension can cause many serious complications, especially in organs affected by blood pressure such as the brain, heart, and kidneys. Therefore, if not promptly detected and treated malignant hypertension will be very dangerous for patients.

• In the heart, malignant hypertension can cause left ventricular hypertrophy, causing heart failure, coronary artery disease, aortic aneurysm, arrhythmia, and eventually cardiac arrest.
• In the kidney, malignant hypertension can cause renal failure , reducing the filtering function of the glomeruli.
• In the brain, malignant hypertension can cause stroke, usually with cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, or subarachnoid hemorrhage. 
• In the lungs, the disease can progress to cause an acute attack of pulmonary edema, making it difficult for the patient to breathe.
• In the eye, malignant hypertension causes damage to small blood vessels at the fundus, cotton discharge, arteriolar stenosis, and papilledema.
• Malignant hypertension is also the cause of metabolic syndrome, an abnormal syndrome in the metabolism of patients, this is a risk of diabetes, coronary artery disease, stroke, damage to blood vessels. vision loss, mental retardation...

Complications from malignant hypertension are often severe. Many patients are only discovered when there are complications in these organs, so the disease has progressed very badly and is difficult to cure.

With the information that SignsSymptomsList has provided, hopefully readers will understand what malignant hypertension is so that appropriate preventive measures can be taken. In general, this is a condition that needs to be treated quickly, especially those with a history of high blood pressure should lead a healthy lifestyle and adhere to a daily medication regimen to keep blood pressure stable.