The purpose of this study was to determine the safety of clevidipine for treating severely elevated blood pressure, defined as systolic (SBP) >180 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) >115 mmHg assessed on 2 successive occasions 15 minutes apart at baseline, in patients with or without major organ injury, particularly with respect to controlled dose adjustment to desired effect and prolonged continuous infusion. Enrollment of patients into the study was to continue until the target goal of 100 patients with at least 18 hours of continuous clevidipine treatment, including a minimum of 50 patients with acute or chronic end-organ injury, was met.