Intensive Care Medicine (ICM) Practice Exam

Disable ads (and more) with a membership for a one time $2.99 payment

Prepare for the Intensive Care Medicine (ICM) Exam. Review with multiple choice questions including detailed explanations. Boost your confidence and enhance your knowledge. Achieve success with targeted study materials tailored just for you!

Each practice test/flash card set has 50 randomly selected questions from a bank of over 500. You'll get a new set of questions each time!

Practice this question and more.

Which of the following is true of hypertensive urgency?

It causes end organ damage
It features elevated mean arterial pressure
It features a rapidly elevating blood pressure
It features a blood pressure equal to or greater than 180/120

The correct answer is: It features elevated mean arterial pressure

In the context of hypertensive urgency, the essential characteristic is the significant elevation of blood pressure, which is reflected in an elevated mean arterial pressure. Hypertensive urgency is typically defined by a blood pressure reading of 180/120 mmHg or higher without the acute end-organ damage that occurs in hypertensive emergencies. The key here is that while patients may present with severely increased blood pressure, the absence of acute damage to organs such as the heart, kidneys, or brain distinguishes urgency from emergency situations. Therefore, the focus is on the blood pressure levels themselves and the mean arterial pressure being at a heightened level. Understanding this distinction is crucial, as treatment for hypertensive urgency focuses on gradual blood pressure reduction over a span of hours to days, rather than immediate intervention as would be required in cases where end-organ damage is present.