HYPERTENSION - A PERSONAL ODYSSEY

This is a brief history of my personal experiences at the Mount Sinai Hospital and Medical School, preceding and interlaced with the researc h that eventually involved hypertension. My research on the hearts, ki dneys, and lungs of animals was followed by work on clubbing of the fi ngers, hypertrophic osteoarthropathy, and myocardial infarction. This finally led to studying vascular resistance and reactivity in hyperten sion and other vascular diseases. I investigated and treated special c auses of hypertension and developed proper testing and effective treat ment of ''essential'' hypertension. We established the hypertension cl inic and laboratory to accomplish these objectives. As for etiology, h ereditary and environmental factors have become better defined, especi ally in ''essential'' hypertension. Study of the spontaneously hyperte nsive rat may clarify some hereditary factors in hypertension, althoug h its relationship to human essential hypertension remains questionabl e. In addition, basic work on the physiology and molecular biology of uterine and vascular smooth muscle has shed some light on the complexi ties of restenosis after angioplasty, arteriosclerosis, left ventricul ar hypertrophy, and hypertension. The help and encouragement of teache rs and colleagues throughout the years has made all this effort possib le.