A study looking at high blood pressure and pazopanib treatment (HYPAZ)

Study design
This study was for people with advanced cancer who were due to have pazopanib. Everyone taking part had pazopanib tablets once a day.

The research team took various measurements before, during and after treatment. These included:

• blood pressure
• blood flow in the forearm
• heart rate (pulse)
• stiffness of arteries
• number and size of blood vessels in the eye

Results
A total of 27 people joined this trial. They had a number of different cancers including kidney cancer, soft tissue sarcoma and melanoma skin cancer.

Blood pressure measurements are made up of 2 numbers. For example, 120 over 80 (written as 120/80). The first number is called the systolic pressure. The second number is called the diastolic pressure.

The results showed that after 12 weeks of pazopanib there was an increase in:

• systolic blood pressure (by an average of 12 points)
• diastolic blood pressure (by an average of 10 points)
• the stiffness of some arteries
• the flow of blood in the forearm

The results also showed there was a decrease in:

• the number and size of very small blood vessels in the eye
• heart rate

We have more information about pazopanib in our Cancer drugs section. 

Conclusion
The study team concluded that pazopanib can reduce the number and size of very small blood vessels. This can lead to an increase in blood pressure. It can also decrease heart rate.

The team hope that understanding more about how pazopanib affects blood pressure will lead to better ways of preventing or treating an increase. They suggest more research is done to find out more.

More detailed information
There is more information about this research in the reference below. 

Please note, this article is not in plain English. It has been written for healthcare professionals and researchers.

Mechanisms Underlying Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor Inhibition–Induced Hypertension – The HYPAZ trial
Kaisa M. Mäki-Petäjä and others
Hypertension, 2021. Volume 77, number 5.

Where this information comes from    
We have based this summary on the information in the article above. This has been reviewed by independent specialists (peer reviewed ) and published in a medical journal. We have not analysed the data ourselves. As far as we are aware, the link we list above is active and the article is free and available to view.