Improving the diagnosis and management of high blood pressure in the cardiac patient

This chapter highlights a common BP measurement error made by cardiologists, demonstrates how to validate automated device accuracy in the individual patient, and discusses a systematic approach to bringing the difficult patient’s BP to goal. The key concept that is developed here is that the control of BP is always an individual experiment in the individual patient, as we currently have no good way to predict which drug or drugs will work best in each patient. The stepwise “combination of combinations” program that I set out has evolved over 40 years of practice in patients with difficultto-manage high BP.