Table 2.

Intravenous antihypertensive medications used in hypertensive pulmonary edema during preeclampsia.

Drug	Starting dose	Repeating doses and intervals	Maximum total dose	Comments
Labetalol42, 66	20 mg	40 mg after 10 minutes	220 mg	Avoid in asthma, chronic obstructive airways disease, and heart failure; associated with neonatal bradycardia and hypoglycemia
Hydralazine42, 66	5 mg	5–10 mg after 20 minutes	20 mg	Risk of sudden hypotension and maternal tachycardia; may need preloading or simultaneous fluid infusion
Nitroglycerine10, 42, 67, 68	5 μg.min−1	Gradually increase every 3–5 minutes	100 μg.min−1	Considered the drug of choice by some authors; may aggravate the depletion of intravascular volume
Furosemide10	20–40 mg	40–60 mg after 30 minutes	120 mg	May worsen placental perfusion