Summary/Abstract: Arterial pressure is exerted by blood on arterial walls. Arterial hypertension is a condition which is characterized by increased pressure in arterial bloodstream. Every time when hearth makes a beat (i.e. makes a contraction) it pumps blood in the arteries. The measuring and monitoring of arterial pressure values in human organism has not been recognized as a routine part of clinical examination and evaluation until 20th century. On the other hand, the pulse has been monitored and determined for centuries before, as it is physically and practically more accessible for monitoring and measuring. Galen’s description of the function of hearth, arteries and veins was considered correct up until 1628, when William Harvey (1578-1657) described bloodstream with hearth as a driving pump. Our contemporary understanding of circulation and therefore arterial pressure begins with William Harvey’s discoveries, who understood and published systematic circulation in his book De motu cordis. The measurement of arterial blood pressure becomes a routine procedure since Nikolai Sergeyevich Korotkoff, who in 1905 described the sounds audible with stethoscope which was positioned on brachial artery below Riva-Rocci’s inflatable cuff during its gradual deflating. The research conducted during 1920’s had discovered the influence of increased arterial pressure on health of general population. The possibilities of treatment were limited and fatal outcome of untreated disease and its complications frequent. Only in the second half of 20th century the breakthrough was achieved. The appearance of hydrochlorothiazide in 1950 (diuretic of the thiazide class) is one of such discoveries.
