Measurement of the effects of a single dose of prazosin on the cerebral blood flow in hypertensive patients

Abstract
It was considered that the first dose reaction occurring with prazosin may have been due either to hypotension or to a specific reduction in cerebral blood flow. The development of a quantitative non-invasion nuclear medicine technique for cerebral flow has now made it possible to investigate the effects of prazosin on cerebral blood flow in hypertensive patients. This double-blind study showed a significant decrease in BP and a small just significant increase in cerebral blood flow following a single 1-mg dose of prazosin, when compared with a placebo. From these results, it is unlikely that the first dose reactions which occurred with prazosin were due to a specific reduction in cerebral blood flow.