Abstract WP328: Suppression of Tachycardia and Cost Effectiveness of Bisoprolol Transdermal Patch Addition to Intravenous Nicardipine in Antihypertensive Treatment for Acute Intracerebral Hemorrhage

Introduction: In patients with hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), intravenous (i.v.) Nicardipine is often used to lower the blood pressure. However, reflex tachycardia is a well-known side effect. Bisoprolol transdermal patch, a beta-blocker to be percutaneously absorbed, recently became commercially available in Japan. It can be used for patients with acute ICH with vomiting or dysphagia. The aim of this study is to evaluate suppressing effect of tachycardia and cost effectiveness of adding Bisoprolol transdermal patch to i.v. Nicardipine in patients with hypertensive ICH. Methods: We randomly assigned patients who were admitted to our department from January 2015 through April 2017 because of acute ICH to single antihypertensive treatment group (i.v. Nicardipine only) or combination treatment group (Bisoprolol transdermal patch and i.v. Nicardipine). The primary outcome was heart rate during 24 hours after admission. Key secondary outcomes were dose of Nicardipine (drug costs), neurological pr...