Blood Pressure Lowering in Acute Stroke Trial

The investigators hope to show that valsartan can be used safely in the setting of acute stroke to lower elevated blood pressure. There are novel properties of this class of drug (an angiotensive-receptor blocker or ARB), and promising human and animal data, that would suggest this drug can be safely used to lower blood pressure in the setting of acute stroke without compromising brain blood flow (i.e. cerebral perfusion). If this is proved to be the case, this compound could potentially be used routinely in this setting, with the hope of improving outcome. This pilot study may pave the way for a larger randomized trial looking at outcome measures in stroke patients. Further, a positive result in the this pilot study will serve as proof of concept that ARBs maintain cerebral perfusion while decreasing blood pressure, an overall favorable property.