Hypertension Blog

Hypertension is sometimes called the “silent killer” because many people don’t know they have it. If left untreated, chronic systolic and diastolic hypertension damages the walls of systemic blood vessels and organs such as the heart, brain, kidneys, and retina. Eventually, this organ damage can result in coronary artery disease (CAD), CVA, renal failure, and blindness .

Coronary Artery Disease

Hypertension is the main risk factor for developing CAD from atherosclerosis. With hypertension, atherosclerotic plaque forms in the inner lining of the artery at an accelerated rate. As the artery narrows, more force is needed to pump blood through it, creating an even further elevation in blood pressure.

Cerebrovascular Accident

Hypertension is also a serious risk factor of CVA. In fact, hypertension is a leading cause of transient ischemic attacks and CVAs resulting from cerebral thrombosis, intracerebral hemorrhage, and emboli.

Cerebral arterial hemorrhage can occur when progressive atherosclerotic changes take place and blood pressure increases in the affected vessels. Eventually, smooth blood vessel tissue is replaced with fibrous tissue, causing vessel walls to become thicker and more rigid. But the vessels also weaken because of intense constriction of the cerebral arterioles and arteries, resulting in the development of microaneurysms that tend to rupture easily.

Renal Disease

Hypertension also leads to end-stage renal disease. During the early stage of hypertension, the capillary basement membrane of the glomeruli becomes thickened by atherosclerosis. Hypertension then causes a gradual destruction of the glomeruli, tubules, and nephrons. At first, a patient’s glomerular filtration rate may remain normal, but scarring eventually occurs, causing renal failure. Although most hypertensive patients have some degree of renal dysfunction, African-American hypertensive patients have the greatest risk of developing end-stage renal disease.

Retinopathy

Hypertension can also cause retinopathy. The resulting retinal changes are categorized in four stages of increasingly severe vessel damage.

Usually, the early stages go undetected because the patient has no significant signs or symptoms to report and no apparent reason to seek medical attention. However, if his hypertension is left untreated and his condition progresses into the later stages of retinopathy, he may develop retinal lesions, which can cause blurred vision, or papilledema and retinal hemorrhaging, which can result in blindness.