[Arterial hypertension due to abuse of sympathomimetic drugs. One case (author's transl)].

A 36-year-old woman developed severe arterial hypertension after taking for five consecutive years increasing dose (up to 10 mg per day) of phenoxazoline HCl in nasal spray. A relationship between the abuse of this sympathomimetic drug and the hypertension was suggested by the unusual appearance of renal arteries on arteriography (stenosis and dilatations resembling aneurisms), the increase in renin activity and the disappearance of hypertension after the drug was discontinued. On control examination, two years later, blood pressure, renin activity and renal arteries were normal. The possibility of sympathomimetic drug overdosage must be borne in mind in cases of suspected iatrogenic arterial hypertension.