Hypertensive urgency is when the blood pressure is very high but there is very little or no symptoms and there are no signs of acute damage to organs.
It differs from hypertensive emergency which has very high blood pressure but also has symptoms of chest pain, shortness of breath, headache, changes in vision or neurologic deficits. These symptoms are all signs of damage to the kidney, heart, lungs or brain.
The level of blood pressure that is considered to be very high is a systolic blood pressure of greater than 180 or a diastolic blood pressure of more than 110.
The goal of treatment in hypertensive urgency is to lower the blood pressure slowly over several days with a follow-up in a weeks time to adjust medications, if required, to achieve better long term blood pressure control.
Note: There are currently no drugs listed for "Hypertensive Urgency".
