This is a case report of drug interaction in a 53 year-old woman diagnosed with depression and arterial hypertension. As a result of a low-salt diet and the use of the captopril (an antihypertensive that inhibites the angiotensine conversion enzyme), her pressoric levels had been stable till venlafaxine was introduced in her therapeutic regime. By then she started to show an unstableclinical condition, with elevations of her arterial blood pressure (ABP). Venlafaxine is a potent last generation antidepressant drug, acting in the central nervous system (CNS) by inhibiting the reuptake of serotonine and noradrenaline. The drug interaction is demonstrated by monitoring the ABP and using the Naranjo's tool.The patient's general clinical conditions and herprogress are presented, and the hypothetical mechanisms to the interaction, such as an increase of noradrenaline in the synaptic ends, the renine-angiostensine system and the role of bradicinine are discussed. The conclusion is that venlafaxine acted as an indirect antagonist,to the hypotensive effects of captopril.
Case report; Drug interaction; Antidepressant; Antihypertensive
