Calcium antagonists in the treatment of hypertension: state of the art.
Treatment of hypertension constitutes an important part of all medical care provided in industrialized countries today. During the last three to four decades, several groups of effective and well-tolerated antihypertensive compounds have become clinically available, e.g., the thiazide diuretics, the centrally acting sympatholytic drugs, the vasodilators, and the beta-blockers. The calcium antagonists can be viewed as the latest important addition to the antihypertensive armamentarium. In this article we review briefly some of the aspects of calcium antagonist therapy that are of relevance for the treatment of arterial hypertension.