In a retrospective study led by Brian Rini, MD, patients whose maximum systolic blood pressure reached 140 mmHg or greater survived nearly four times longer (30.5 months) compared to those who had lower maximum systolic pressure (7.8 months). Patients whose maximum diastolic blood pressure reached 90 mmHg or greater survived twice as long (32.2 months compared to 14.9 months).
Hypertensive patients also experienced 2.5- to 5-times longer progression-free survival — the period of time during which the tumor either shrank or did not grow. The use of blood pressure-lowering medication did not reduce the treatment’s anti-tumor effectiveness. Although patients with hypertension developed more kidney toxicity than patients without hypertension, hypertension-associated side effects were uncommon.
Read the news release about Cleveland Clinic’s study on hypertension and advanced kidney cancer.
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