What potential complication can hypertension cause during interventional procedures?

Hypertension can significantly increase the risk of a hematoma during interventional procedures. This is primarily due to the elevated pressure in the vascular system, which can cause excessive bleeding if a vessel is punctured or nicked during catheter insertion or manipulation. When a patient has high blood pressure, the likelihood of a rupture in blood vessels increases, leading to bleeding in the surrounding tissues. The accumulation of blood outside the vessels forms a hematoma, which can result in discomfort and additional complications if not managed properly.

While other complications such as pneumothorax, thrombosis, and contrast reactions can occur during interventional procedures, they are not directly linked to hypertension in the same manner that hematomas are. For instance, a pneumothorax typically arises from mechanical injury during procedures involving the chest, thrombosis occurs due to clot formation usually unrelated to blood pressure levels, and contrast reactions are related to the patient’s sensitivity to the contrast agent rather than their blood pressure status. Thus, hypertension's direct role in increasing the risk of bleeding makes hematoma the most relevant complication in this context.