Ketanserin in the treatment of essential hypertension. A double blind trial against metoprolol followed by one-year open treatment.

The present study was designed to compare the antihypertensive potencies of ketanserin and metoprolol in a double-blind trial and to study ketanserin long-term efficacy in a one-year open trial, plain or combined with metoprolol, according to diastolic blood pressure (DBP) normalization. Thirty-four patients were randomly assigned to two groups, one (n = 17) received ketanserin, 80 mg/day, and the other, (n = 17) metoprolol, 200 mg/day. After 3 mo. double blind treatment, all patients received plain ketanserin, or combined with metoprolol if ketanserin failed to normalize DBP. A significant effect was demonstrated after 3 mo. double blind treatment, for both drugs, in both standing and supine DBP (p less than 0.001). In the one-year follow-up, all patients received ketanserin and were divided in: I (n = 15) previously treated with the same drug; II (n = 2) plus metoprolol, in whom ketanserin had failed to decrease DBP; and III (n = 15) previously treated with metoprolol. In group I the blood pressure lowering effect of ketanserin remained constant during the one-year follow-up. In group II a trend in the decrease of parameters was observed. In group III, supine DBP diminished from 92.5 +/- 2 mmHg during treatment with metoprolol to 86.0 +/- 2 at 12 mo., after treatment with ketanserin (p less than 0.05). In groups I and III, 24/30 of patients normalized their DBP during one-year ketanserin open treatment. Ketanserin appears as a new alternative in the treatment of mild and moderate essential hypertension.