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(Hypertension. 2007;50:1.)
© 2007 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorial

Personalized Medicine for High Blood Pressure

From the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Department of Internal Medicine (S.T.T., G.L.S.), Mayo Clinic and Foundation, Rochester Minn; and Human Genetics Center and Institute of Molecular Medicine (E.B.), University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center.

Correspondence to Stephen T. Turner, MD, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester MN 55905. E-mail turner.stephen@mayo.edu

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

	Introduction

 

"One important characteristic of biology is its diversity, its variation. It’s why personalized medicine is so important."¹

Personalized medicine refers to the use of diagnostic and screening methods that exploit knowledge of the patient’s unique molecular or risk profile to achieve optimal health and medical outcome through improved management of the patient’s disease or predisposition toward a disease. High blood pressure (hypertension) is the most common modifiable risk factor for vascular disease,² which in turn accounts for more morbidity and mortality than any other category of disease. This invited review attempts to explain why individualized approaches are imperative to improve the detection, evaluation, treatment, and prevention of hypertension; to recount the history of the pursuit of this "holy grail"; and to propose approaches to overcoming the many obstacles to realization of personalized medicine for hypertension.

	Rationale for Personalized Medicine for Hypertension

 
Ischemia of vital organs, especially the brain, heart, and kidneys, causes most of the morbidity and mortality associated with hypertension. Arteriosclerosis is the disease process, encompassing two main patterns, atherosclerosis and arteriolosclerosis, that contribute to thickening of arterial walls, reduction of lumen diameters, and impairment of blood supply leading to ischemia, dysfunction, and ultimately failure of target organs. Because increased resistance to blood flow, ie, the primary vascular disorder of hypertension, involves medial thickening and consequent luminal narrowing in small, muscular arteries and end-arterioles, hypertension emerges as the strongest risk factor, after age, for arteriolosclerotic manifestations of target organ complications³ (Table).

Whereas . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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