Use of Saralasin as a Diagnostic Test in Hypertension: Report of a Consensus Committee

Almost 60 million adults in the United States have arterial hypertension. Most will be judged to have primary (essential) hypertension and will, therefore, be consigned to a lifetime of physician visits and antihypertensive drug therapy to prolong life and reduce cardiovascular morbidity. The longterm cost, unpleasant or adverse side effects of lifelong antihypertensive drug therapy, and high rate of lack of adherence (with the possible associated reduced benefit) are adequate reasons to search for secondary potentially curable causes of high BP, of which the most prevalent is renovascular hypertension. Recently, saralasin acetate has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use as a diagnostic agent for the detection of angiotensin II-dependent (renin-mediated) hypertension. Most of the experimental and clinical studies of saralasin have been published in specialty journals, 1 so that many practicing physicians are unfamiliar with this drug or with its proper use. Therefore, a committee composed