Persistent macrovascular and microvascular dysfunction in patients with malignant hypertension.

Endothelial dysfunction is characteristic of patients with essential hypertension, but only limited data are available on different aspects of endothelial function in patients with malignant-phase hypertension. We investigated myocardial perfusion using real-time quantitative myocardial contrast echocardiography with concurrent assessment of macrovascular and microvascular endothelial damage/dysfunction in patients with previous malignant hypertension (but now in stable phase), who were compared with patients with treated "high-risk" hypertension (hypertension) and healthy controls. We measured flow (hyperemia)-mediated dilation and response to glyceryl trinitrate of brachial artery (ultrasound), microvascular (forearm) response to acetylcholine and sodium nitroprusside (laser Doppler), pulse wave velocity, circulating endothelial and endothelial progenitor cells in 15 patients with malignant hypertension, 40 matched patients with hypertension, and 40 healthy controls. Patients with malignant hypertension had impaired endothelial-dependant response to acetylcholine (P