A better understanding of the pathogenic processes that contribute to complications in hypertension is crucial towards improving treatment strategies. Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular mortality through its effects on target organs like the brain, heart, kidney, and vessels. Damages related to hypertension in these target organs are involved in the pathogenesis of hypertension-induced cardiovascular diseases such as stroke, cardiac ischemia, and remodeling, or nephropathy. Mechanisms such as hyperactivity of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, endothelial dysfunction, vascular remodeling, oxidative stress, or inflammation seem to contribute to the pathogenesis of target organ damage and therefore represent an important pathway for therapy. Indeed, these factors are interrelated and appear to play a key role in the development of organ dysfunction. Several antihypertensive agents have been shown to attenuate end organ damage and to reduce effectively hypertension-associated cardiovascular events. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• The role of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system
• Pathogenic mechanisms: endothelial dysfunction, vascular remodeling, oxidative stress, and inflammation
• Cerebrovascular events: pathophysiology and clinical presentations
• Left ventricular hypertrophy as a risk factor
• Myocardial ischemia in hypertensive patients
• The link between chronic kidney disease and hypertension
• Glomerular damage and microalbuminuria
• Early manifestations of hypertensive vascular disease: vascular stiffness and carotid intima-media thickening
• Effects of antihypertensive drugs on target organ damage

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijht/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/ according to the following timetable: