[The clinical importance of studying disorders in the rheological properties of the blood in hypertension patients].

Altogether 118 patients with stages I-III essential hypertension were examined for hemodynamics and rheologic blood properties: total viscosity, deformability, aggregation, form and mechanical resistance of red blood cells, plasma osmolality, hematocrit, and red blood cell count. The data obtained indicate that in patients suffering from essential hypertension, there occur consistent abnormalities of hemorheology, correlating with the disease stage and some hemodynamic parameters. Early changes in red blood cell deformability and their discospheric transformation turned out to be the most specific in patients with essential hypertension. Red blood cell aggregation and hydrodynamic deaggregation underwent alterations mainly in complicated disease patterns.