Treatment of Hypertension

It is customary to speak of hypertension as an entity, in the same way that we might speak of fever. This is due to the fact that the clinical estimations of blood pressure in the beginning were applicable only to the systolic phase and not until more recently, after the auscultatory method had been discovered, were we able to make estimation of the diastolic pressure as well. At present it is not correct to speak of an elevation of blood pressure without designating both systolic and diastolic phases. When we study blood pressure curves by determinations that have been carried out under control conditions, we find peculiarities in the systolic and diastolic phases which make it impossible to explain the departures from normal in so simple a way as is usually done. For example, we notice elevations in both systolic and diastolic phases, and this is the most common type