Clinical investigation of the effect of ketanserin: a new antihypertensive drug.

The antihypertensive effect of a recently introduced antiserotoninic drug, ketanserin, was examined in a single-blind, placebo-controlled parallel group study in 28 patients with mild to moderate hypertension. Supine and standing blood pressure, electrocardiogram, heart rate and laboratory parameters of liver, kidney and bone marrow functions were checked before and after 3 months of treatment. After 12 weeks' treatment with ketanserin (20-40 mg twice a day), there was a highly significant reduction of both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, as compared to placebo in the supine position (p less than 0.0001/p less than 0.001). In the standing position, the reduction of systolic pressure was more significant than the diastolic pressure (p less than 0.0001/p less than 0.01). Eleven out of 28 hypertensive patients showed electrocardiographic evidence of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) according to the ECG criteria of Romhilt and Estes. Although a reduction of the mean point score for LVH as compared to placebo was observed in the ketanserin group, that difference was not statistically significant. These preliminary observations suggest a possible role of ketanserin in the regression of LVH due to essential hypertension.