Drugs used in the management of toxemia of pregnancy.

Drugs used in the management of pregnancy-induced hypertension have been reviewed, and their value and adverse effects on both mother and fetus have been considered. Although magnesium and hydralazine remain the stalwarts of therapy, a number of other drugs have potential that may be realized in the future. Several new medications have promise in correcting the derangements of toxemia, but safety for the fetus has yet to be demonstrated. For the physician confronted with the complexities of old and new drugs in toxemia of pregnancy, the prayer of Lord Berkely may be just as appropriate in 1977 as it was dicades ago: From inability to let well enough alone, From too much zeal for the new, From too much contempt for what is old, From putting knowledge before wisdom and science before art, From making the cure of the disease more grievous than its endurnace, Good Lord, deliver us.