2007年12月30日星期日

Doctors and Healthcare Practitioners Changing the Way They Treat High Blood Pressure

Slowly but surely the face of healthcare treatment for high blood pressure is changing. The goal, it would now appear as a result of the information provided from a recent study in Canada is that there are significant results to be gained from simplifying the way we look at and treat high blood pressure.

Now this might not appear to be Rocket Science and indeed might actually appear to be quite logical to some but the results of this study if it were to be extended could radically change the way that not only the health care profession views high blood pressure but also the way that we, the patients, view high blood pressure as well.

The other side effect of this particular study was that though the primary focus of the study was purely in relation to hypertension or high blood pressure it would appear from the initial results of this study that it could cause a massive change in the way healthcare practitioners and doctors treat a whole series of chronic conditions and diseases.

The trial, otherwise know as the Simplified Treatment Intervention To Control Hypertension (STITCH) trial was a programme that analyzed the results of the treatment of both the 2100 patients with high blood pressure spread over 45 family practices in Ontario in Canada.

What exactly is high blood pressure and quite why can it (if left untreated) be so deadly?

Only in approximately 1 out of 20 cases will the sufferer be aware of their high blood pressure.

Quite often an apparently symptom less disorder, a diagnosis of high blood pressure can be missed for years and hence the morbid description the silent killer.

There are certain signs that can be a bit of a give away with regards to high blood pressure and these should not be left unattended if observed.

Included amongst the following are some of the symptoms: Dizziness, Ringing in the Ears , Blurred Vision, Increased frequency of urinating at night.

The above taken together would tend to indicate an occurrence of high blood pressure but a careful diagnosis is needed as they just as easily could indicate associate conditions.

OK, we have all heard the term high blood pressure but what exactly does it mean?

Well, if we are to go back to basics then the bodys major tissues and organs are supplied and fed with blood pumped to them from the heart via a network of hose like vessels called arteries.

In around 90% of all cases of diagnosed high blood pressure there is no one particular cause and as such this high blood pressure is called Primary (Essential) High Blood Pressure.

For those whose incidences of high blood pressure fall outside of the category described above then if the cause of the high blood pressure can be traced directly to one particular failing organ etc then the cause can usually be dealt with and as such the Secondary High Blood Pressure can accordingly be treated quite successfully.

In less than 10% of the incidences of high blood pressure diagnosed, the diagnosis falls into the category known as Malignant Hypertension. Quite often this is discovered totally by accident and may be as a result of an associate test such as an eye test whereby the Optician can sometimes detect the condition by merely looking into a patients eye.