Hypertension in bone marrow transplanted patients.

Possible etiological factors of cyclosporine (CyA) induced hypertension were investigated in 10 bone marrow transplanted (BMT) patients followed during one week before and 3 weeks after transplantation. Diastolic blood pressure increased significantly after CyA in 4 patients (75 +/- 1 to 94 +/- 2 mmHg) but remained unchanged in 6 others (83 +/- 1 to 87 +/- 1 mmHg). Plasma renin activity on CyA was significantly lower in the hypertensive (0.6 +/- 0.1 ng/ml/hour) than in the normotensive group (1.1 +/- 0.2 ng/ml/hour). Serum creatinine rose significantly during CyA in hypertensive (0.70 +/- 0.04 to 0.99 +/- 0.07 mg/dl) but not in normotensive patients (0.74 +/- 0.06 to 0.81 +/- 0.03 mg/dl). The rise in serum creatinine was correlated with the increase of blood pressure. Neither body weight nor 6 keto PGF1 alpha plasma level changed during CyA. CyA dosage and plasma level were similar in hypertensive and normotensive patients. These data confirm the high incidence of CyA induced hypertension in BMT patients. In addition, they demonstrate that hypertension is not related to the renin-angiotensin axis but well to renal impairment.