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normal diastolic/high systolic

by gyrodyne, May 21, 2009 11:03AM
What is the conditio ccaledd? I.e., normal diastolic with high systolic.

What is the physiology involved?

What are the risks?
Member Comments (1)

by Dr J Singh, May 26, 2009 09:42AM
To: gyrodyne
Hi,
When the heart contracts, the blood is pumped from the heart through the arteries into the body. The blood puts a force against the blood vessel (or artery) walls. This pressure is known as systolic blood pressure.
When the heart is relaxing before it contracts again, the existing pressure in the arteries is known as the diastolic blood pressure. When that reading goes above 140/90 mmHg, it is called high blood pressure or 'hypertension'. 140 represents systolic pressure and 90 represents diastolic pressure.
In the case of isolated systolic hypertension, the diastolic pressure remains within the normal range but the systolic pressure rises. For e.g. a blood pressure reading of 160/86 mmHg can be called as isolated systolic hypertension.
Only systolic pressure rise is usually seen in the elderly individuals, when the blood vessels become stiff and inelastic due to the ageing (aging) process. Previously, systolic pressure was not treated aggressively as it was considered a part of the normal ageing (aging) but now it’s recognized as an important factor in the causation of heart disease and thus is aggressively treated.
Hypertension is known as the silent killer as patients suffering from the same remain asymptomatic but can die due to the problems of stroke (decreased blood supply or hemorrhage{due to rupture of a blood vessel} in the brain) or due to a heart attack and hence treating the elevated blood pressure is quite important.
I sincerely hope that helps. Please do keep me posted. Kind Regards.
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