Clinical data | |
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Trade names | Apresoline, BiDil, others |
AHFS/Drugs.com | Monograph |
MedlinePlus | a682246 |
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Routes of administration | By mouth, intravenous |
ATC code | |
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Pharmacokinetic data | |
Bioavailability | 26–50% |
Protein binding | 85–90% |
Metabolism | Liver |
Onset of action | 5 to 30 min [2] |
Elimination half-life | 2–8 hours, 7–16 hours (renal impairment) |
Duration of action | 2 to 6 hrs [2] |
Excretion | Urine |
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CompTox Dashboard (EPA) | |
ECHA InfoCard | 100.001.528 |
Chemical and physical data | |
Formula | C8H8N4 |
Molar mass | 160.180 g·mol−1 |
3D model (JSmol) | |
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Hydralazine, sold under the brand name Apresoline among others, is a medication used to treat high blood pressure and heart failure. [2] This includes high blood pressure in pregnancy and very high blood pressure resulting in symptoms. [3] It has been found to be particularly useful in heart failure, together with isosorbide dinitrate, for treatment of people of African descent. [2] It is given by mouth or by injection into a vein. [3] Effects usually begin around 15 minutes and last up to six hours. [2]
Common side effects include headache and fast heart rate. [2] It is not recommended in people with coronary artery disease or in those with rheumatic heart disease that affects the mitral valve. [2] In those with kidney disease a low dose is recommended. [3] Hydralazine is in the vasodilator family of medications, so it is believed to work by causing the dilation of blood vessels. [2]
Hydralazine was discovered while scientists at Ciba were looking for a treatment for malaria. [4] It was patented in 1949. [5] It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. [6] In 2021, it was the 106th most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 6 million prescriptions. [7] [8]
Hydralazine is not used as a primary drug for treating hypertension because it elicits a reflex sympathetic stimulation of the heart (the baroreceptor reflex). [9] The sympathetic stimulation may increase heart rate and cardiac output, and in people with coronary artery disease may cause angina pectoris or myocardial infarction. [10] Hydralazine may also increase plasma renin concentration, resulting in fluid retention. To prevent these undesirable side effects, hydralazine is usually prescribed in combination with a beta blocker (e.g., propranolol) and a diuretic. [10]
Hydralazine is used to treat severe hypertension, but is not a first-line therapy for essential hypertension. Hydralazine is often used to treat hypertension in pregnancy, though, with either labetalol and/or methyldopa. [11]
Hydralazine is commonly used in combination with isosorbide dinitrate for the treatment of congestive heart failure in black populations. This preparation, isosorbide dinitrate/hydralazine, was the first race-based prescription drug. [12]
It should not be used in people who have tachycardia, heart failure, constrictive pericarditis, lupus, a dissecting aortic aneurysm, or porphyria. [13]
Prolonged treatment may cause a syndrome similar to lupus, which can become fatal if the symptoms are not noticed and drug treatment stopped. [13] Hydralazine is within the top three drugs that is known to induce systemic lupus and this adverse drug event is dose dependent yet significant.
Very common (>10% frequency) side effects include headache, tachycardia, and palpitations. [13]
Common (1–10% frequency) side effects include flushing, hypotension, anginal symptoms, aching or swelling joints, muscle aches, positive tests for atrial natriuretic peptide, stomach upset, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, and swelling (sodium and water retention). [13]
It may potentiate the antihypertensive effects of: [13]
Drugs subject to a strong first-pass effect such as beta blockers may increase the bioavailability of hydralazine. [13] The heart rate-accelerating effects of epinephrine (adrenaline) are increased by hydralazine, and coadministration may lead to toxicity. [13]
Hydralazine is a direct-acting smooth muscle relaxant and acts as a vasodilator primarily in resistance arterioles, also known as the smooth muscle of the arterial bed. The molecular mechanism involves inhibition of inositol trisphosphate-induced Ca2+ release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum in arterial smooth muscle cells. [14] [15] By relaxing vascular smooth muscle, vasodilators act to decrease peripheral resistance, thereby lowering blood pressure and decreasing afterload. [10] The exact mechanism of action of hydralazine is unknown, at least as of 1981. [16]
Metabolic products include the N-acetyl derivative, pyruvic acid hydrazone, and acetone hydrazone, each of which may also contribute to reducing blood pressure. [17]
Hydralazine belongs to the hydrazinophthalazine class of drugs. [18]
The antihypertensive activity of hydralazine was discovered by scientists at Ciba, who were trying to discover drugs to treat malaria; it was initially called C-5968 and 1-hydrazinophthalazine; Ciba's patent application was filed in 1945 and issued in 1949, [19] [20] [21] and the first scientific publications of its blood pressure-lowering activities appeared in 1950. [4] [18] [22] It was approved by the FDA in 1953. [23]
It was one of the first antihypertensive medications that could be taken by mouth. [9]
Hydralazine has also been studied as a treatment for myelodysplastic syndrome in its capacity as a DNA methyltransferase inhibitor. [24]
Angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors are a class of medication used primarily for the treatment of high blood pressure and heart failure. This class of medicine works by causing relaxation of blood vessels as well as a decrease in blood volume, which leads to lower blood pressure and decreased oxygen demand from the heart.
Beta blockers, also spelled β-blockers, are a class of medications that are predominantly used to manage abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmia), and to protect the heart from a second heart attack after a first heart attack. They are also widely used to treat high blood pressure, although they are no longer the first choice for initial treatment of most patients.
Vasodilation, also known as vasorelaxation, is the widening of blood vessels. It results from relaxation of smooth muscle cells within the vessel walls, in particular in the large veins, large arteries, and smaller arterioles. Blood vessel walls are composed of endothelial tissue and a basal membrane lining the lumen of the vessel, concentric smooth muscle layers on top of endothelial tissue, and an adventitia over the smooth muscle layers. Relaxation of the smooth muscle layer allows the blood vessel to dilate, as it is held in a semi-constricted state by sympathetic nervous system activity. Vasodilation is the opposite of vasoconstriction, which is the narrowing of blood vessels.
Hydrochlorothiazide, sold under the brand name Hydrodiuril among others, is a diuretic medication used to treat hypertension and swelling due to fluid build-up. Other uses include treating diabetes insipidus and renal tubular acidosis and to decrease the risk of kidney stones in those with a high calcium level in the urine. Hydrochlorothiazide is taken by mouth and may be combined with other blood pressure medications as a single pill to increase effectiveness. Hydrochlorothiazide is a thiazide medication which inhibits reabsorption of sodium and chloride ions from the distal convoluted tubules of the kidneys, causing a natriuresis. This initially increases urine volume and lowers blood volume. It is believed to reduce peripheral vascular resistance.
Antihypertensives are a class of drugs that are used to treat hypertension. Antihypertensive therapy seeks to prevent the complications of high blood pressure, such as stroke, heart failure, kidney failure and myocardial infarction. Evidence suggests that reduction of the blood pressure by 5 mmHg can decrease the risk of stroke by 34% and of ischaemic heart disease by 21%, and can reduce the likelihood of dementia, heart failure, and mortality from cardiovascular disease. There are many classes of antihypertensives, which lower blood pressure by different means. Among the most important and most widely used medications are thiazide diuretics, calcium channel blockers, ACE inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor antagonists (ARBs), and beta blockers.
Atenolol is a beta blocker medication primarily used to treat high blood pressure and heart-associated chest pain. Although used to treat high blood pressure, it does not seem to improve mortality in those with the condition. Other uses include the prevention of migraines and treatment of certain irregular heart beats. It is taken orally or by intravenous injection. It can also be used with other blood pressure medications.
Indapamide is a thiazide-like diuretic drug used in the treatment of hypertension, as well as decompensated heart failure. Combination preparations with perindopril are available. The thiazide-like diuretics reduce risk of major cardiovascular events and heart failure in hypertensive patients compared with hydrochlorothiazide with a comparable incidence of adverse events. Both thiazide diuretics and thiazide-like diuretics are effective in reducing risk of stroke. Both drug classes appear to have comparable rates of adverse effects as other antihypertensives such as angiotensin II receptor blockers and dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers and lesser prevalence of side-effects when compared to ACE-inhibitors and non-dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers.
Irbesartan, sold under the brand name Aprovel among others, is a medication used to treat high blood pressure, heart failure, and diabetic kidney disease. It is a reasonable initial treatment for high blood pressure. It is taken by mouth. Versions are available as the combination irbesartan/hydrochlorothiazide.
Isosorbide dinitrate is a medication used for heart failure, esophageal spasms, and to treat and prevent chest pain from not enough blood flow to the heart. It has been found to be particularly useful in heart failure due to systolic dysfunction together with hydralazine. It is taken by mouth or under the tongue.
Methyldopa, sold under the brand name Aldomet among others, is a medication used for high blood pressure. It is one of the preferred treatments for high blood pressure in pregnancy. For other types of high blood pressure including very high blood pressure resulting in symptoms other medications are typically preferred. It can be given by mouth or injection into a vein. Onset of effects is around 5 hours and they last about a day.
Isosorbide mononitrate, sold under many brand names, is a medication used for heart-related chest pain (angina), heart failure and esophageal spasms. It can be used both to treat and to prevent heart-related chest pain; however, it is generally less preferred than beta blockers or calcium channel blockers. It is taken by mouth.
A phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor is a vasodilating drug that works by blocking the degradative action of cGMP-specific phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) on cyclic GMP in the smooth muscle cells lining the blood vessels supplying various tissues. These drugs dilate the corpora cavernosa of the penis, facilitating erection with sexual stimulation, and are used in the treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED). Sildenafil was the first effective oral treatment available for ED. Because PDE5 is also present in the smooth muscle of the walls of the arterioles within the lungs, two PDE5 inhibitors, sildenafil and tadalafil, are FDA-approved for the treatment of pulmonary hypertension. As of 2019, the wider cardiovascular benefits of PDE5 inhibitors are being appreciated.
Doxazosin, sold under the brand names Cardura among others, is a medication used to treat symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia, hypertension, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For high blood pressure, it is a less preferred option. It is taken by mouth.
Alpha-1 blockers constitute a variety of drugs that block the effect of catecholamines on alpha-1-adrenergic receptors. They are mainly used to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), hypertension and post-traumatic stress disorder. Alpha-1 adrenergic receptors are present in vascular smooth muscle, the central nervous system, and other tissues. When alpha blockers bind to these receptors in vascular smooth muscle, they cause vasodilation.
A hypertensive emergency is very high blood pressure with potentially life-threatening symptoms and signs of acute damage to one or more organ systems. It is different from a hypertensive urgency by this additional evidence for impending irreversible hypertension-mediated organ damage (HMOD). Blood pressure is often above 200/120 mmHg, however there are no universally accepted cutoff values.
Carvedilol, sold under the brand name Coreg among others, is a beta blocker medication, that may be prescribed for the treatment of high blood pressure (hypertension) and chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. Beta-blockers as a collective medication class are not recommended as routine first-line treatment of high blood pressure for all patients, due to evidence demonstrating less effective cardiovascular protection and a less favourable safety profile when compared to other classes of blood pressure-lowering medications.
Hydralazine/isosorbide dinitrate, sold under the brand name Bidil, is a fixed-dose combination medication used to treat self-identified Black people with congestive heart failure. It is a combination of hydralazine hydrochloride and isosorbide dinitrate.
Drug-induced lupus erythematosus is an autoimmune disorder caused by chronic use of certain drugs. These drugs cause an autoimmune response producing symptoms similar to those of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). There are 38 known medications to cause DIL but there are three that report the highest number of cases: hydralazine, procainamide, and quinidine. While the criteria for diagnosing DIL has not been thoroughly established, symptoms of DIL typically present as muscle pain and joint pain. Generally, the symptoms recede after discontinuing use of the drugs.
A nitrovasodilator is a pharmaceutical agent that causes vasodilation by donation of nitric oxide (NO), and is mostly used for the treatment and prevention of angina pectoris.
Acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) is a sudden worsening of the signs and symptoms of heart failure, which typically includes difficulty breathing (dyspnea), leg or feet swelling, and fatigue. ADHF is a common and potentially serious cause of acute respiratory distress. The condition is caused by severe congestion of multiple organs by fluid that is inadequately circulated by the failing heart. An attack of decompensation can be caused by underlying medical illness, such as myocardial infarction, an abnormal heart rhythm, infection, or thyroid disease.