Clinical Medicine Insights: Therapeutics

Clevidipine is a third generation dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration and is an emerging option for management of perioperative hypertension. This intravenous medication has several properties that may be advantageous when rapid and safe blood pressure control is required, including fast onset, short duration of action and the lack of renal or hepatic metabolism. Clevidipine has been demonstrated to be safe and efficacious for the management of perioperative hypertension in the cardiac surgery population, with minimal excursions outside of the target blood pressure range. Despite the fact that clevidipine does have certain advantages over alternative agents, it has some distinct limitations associated with its use, including higher associated costs and limited data in non-cardiac surgery patients. While clevidipine may serve as an additional option, further research is required to fully establish the role of clevidipine in the management of perioperative hypertension.