What is neurogenic hypertension? What are the most common forms? Are there any specific treatments?
Any pathologic process that acutely increases intracranial pressure can cause hypertension and bradycardia, which is known as the Cushing reflex. Thus, acute stroke, intracranial tumors, severe head injury, and occasionally patients with quadriplegia and other spinal cord pathology are often complicated by new-onset hypertension or worsened blood pressure control in those with a prior history of hypertension. In most cases, addressing the primary neurologic problem lowers blood pressure, often in as little as 24 hours. The presumed mechanism is neurovascular compression of the left ventrolateral medulla and associated sympathetic nervous system stimulation.
