Adverse neurologic events associated with rebound hypertension after using short-acting nifedipine in childhood hypertension.

INTRODUCTION

Short-acting nifedipine (SA-NIF) is widely prescribed for acute hypertension (HTN) in children despite reports of ischemic complications in adults. We describe two children with neurologic events caused by rebound hypertension following SA-NIF use.

CASES: Patient 1 is a 7-year-old with acute nephritis and blood pressure (BP) of 185/130. She received SA-NIF which decreased BP to 114/79. When BP rebounded to 160/103, she developed severe cortical visual impairment. Head CT demonstrated edema and petechial hemorrhages in the watershed region. Patient 2 is a 10-year-old renal transplant recipient who received SA-NIF for a BP of 155/98, which resulted in a prompt decrease to 114/74. Two hours later he developed aphasia and right-sided neglect. His BP increased to 168/88 and he developed partial complex seizures. Brain MRI showed high signal intensity in the watershed areas with early gadolinium enhancement.

DISCUSSION: The temporal association of the neurologic events with the rebound increase in BP suggests a possible role for the SA-NIF, consistent with its pharmacokinetic profile. Although the adult literature has focused on the unpredictable decline in BP after SA-NIF treatment, these cases suggest that rapid increases in BP following the maximal SA-NIF effect may be associated with impaired cerebral autoregulation and encephalopathy in children. These cases underscore the need for frequent blood pressure determinations and therapy to prevent rebound hypertension.