Calcium Antagonists in the Treatment of Hypertension in Pregnancy

This is a clinician's and researcher's reference text on using calcium antagonists - calcium channel blockers - in the treatment of gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia. It contains twelve chapters covering experimental and clinical studies on the major calcium antagonists, their definition and classification and pharmacological profile, which drugs to use and when and which drugs to avoid. It also describes nifedipine pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics and covers nifedipine first-line treatment of gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia along with chapters on second-line treatment and nifedipine blood cells and blood rheology. The book provides a comparison between two calcium antagonists in treating gestational hypertension and new categories to classify pre-eclampsia. Includes bibliographic references and index.