Propranolol Again: Order out of Chaos?

Readers of the Journal have been witness to a remarkable series of articles over the past four years dealing with the effect of propranolol as an antihypertensive agent in patients representing various sub species of the genus renin. In brief recapitulation, Bühler and his associates described a direct relation between the reduction of plasma renin activity (PRA) and arterial pressure by propranolol alone in a spectrum of patients classified as having low, normal and high levels of PRA.¹About one third of those patients had renal-artery stenosis. In a later publication by the same group rather good correlation was observed.