[Effect of the angiotensin antagonist saralasin on blood pressure and hemodynamics in patients with terminal renal insufficiency].

The angiotensin antagonist saralasin was infused both before and 10 hrs after dialysis in 10 hypertensive and 4 normotensive patients hemodialyzed for terminal renal failure. A significant increase in mean arterial pressure (MAP) and total peripheral resistance (TPR) without change in cardiac output measured by impedance cardiography were observed during the first few minutes of saralasin infusion. MAP and TPR decreased during the second half of the infusion in 4 hypertensive patients and remained at the preinfusion levels in 6 hypertensive and 4 normotensive patients. Plasma renin activity (PRA) was significantly higher in patients in whom MAP fell both before and after hemodialysis. There was a significant correlation between PRA before saralasin and the fall in MAP and TPR. The fall in MAP in 4 of 10 hypertensive patients demonstrates that inappropriately high renin and angiotensin levels are involved in the pathogenesis of hypertension in some patients with terminal renal failure. Volume factors are probably of primary importance in the other patients.