My patient has had an intracerebral haemorrhage — How do I best control his blood pressure?

Why is this study important and noteworthy? Acute intracerebral haemorrhage is the least treatable form of stroke, with the prognosis highly dependent on the volume and growth of the underlying haematoma. Blood pressure often reaches high levels after an intracerebral haemorrhage and this elevated pressure is considered a predictor of outcome. While studies have previously established the benefit of lowering blood pressure in intracerebral haemorrhage, the safety and efficiency of acutely lowering blood pressure has not been established. This study was conducted to cover this gap in knowledge. INTERACT, which was conducted as a pilot for this study, showed encouraging results. This is the main-phase study on a much bigger sample.