Captopril Treatment in Hypertensive Dialysis Patients

Captopril was used for treatment resistant arterial hypertension in 17 dialysis patients. Excellent blood-pressure control with diastolic blood-pressure less than 95 mmHg was obtained in 10 out of 17 patients (59%), with captopril as only drug in 8 patients. Six patients have been treated more than 6 months and 4 patients have been on the treatment for 1 year. The dosage of captopril could be kept low with maintained antihypertensive and angiotensin converting enzyme blocking effects. The acute blood-pressure lowering effect of captopril in dialysis patients was correlated to the initial plasma renin activity (p less than 0.001) but not long-term treatment, which was successful also in several low-renin patients. A few adverse reactions were encountered, e.g. urticaria and bullous exanthema, but all resolved when captopril treatment was stopped. Plasma potassium increased only from 4.8 +/- 0.1 to 5.0 +/- 0.1 mmol/l at the end of 1 month's treatment. Captopril appears to be a valuable drug for treatment of arterial hypertension in dialysis patients and offers an alternative to bilateral nephrectomy for the management of treatment resistant hypertension in these patients.