Table 3.

Parenteral antihypertensive agents for treatment of perioperative hypertension

Agent	Initial dose	Onset of action	Duration of action
Esmolol	250–500 μg/kg (followed by 25–50 μg/kg/minute in CI)	1 minutes	10–20 minutes
Labetalol	20 mg	2–5 minutes	6 hours
Clevidipine	0.5 μg/kg/minute (CI)	2–4 minutes	5–15 minutes
Nicardipine	1 mg or 5 mg/hour (CI)	2 minutes, 5–15 minutes	2–4 hours, 4–6 hours
Nitroprusside	0.5 μg/kg/minute (CI)	Immediate	1–2 minutes
Nitroglycerin	5 μg/min (CI)	2–5 minutes	3–5 minutes
Clonidine	150 μg	30 minutes	4–6 hours
Urapidil	25 mg	2 minutes	4–5 hours
Enalaprilat	0.625–1.25 mg	15 minutes	6 hours
Fenoldopam	0.1 μg/kg/minute (CI)	5 minutes	30–60 minutes
Hydralazine	3–20 mg	5–15 minutes	6–12 hours

Abbreviations: CI, continuous infusion; min, minute.