Tolcher MC, Fox KA, Sangi-Haghpeykar H, et al. - In view of the observation that pregnant women with preeclampsia exhibit elevated cerebral perfusion pressure and impaired cerebral autoregulation compared with normal pregnant women, researchers here examined the effect of intravenous labetalol vs oral nifedipine on cerebral perfusion pressure in the setting of acute, severe hypertension in pregnancy. In this prospective cohort study of 16 women with acute, severe hypertension, 8 received intravenous labetalol and 8 received oral nifedipine. They performed Doppler studies for middle cerebral artery hemodynamics prior to the administration of antihypertensives and repeated them 30 minutes following medication administration. Outcomes revealed a significant decrease in cerebral perfusion pressure in correlation with receiving oral nifedipine, but not with receiving labetalol, for acute, severe hypertension among women with preeclampsia. A reduction in peripheral arterial blood pressure, rather than a direct change in cerebral blood flow, seemed driving this decrease.