If a hypertensive patient needs surgery while taking reserpine, he or she needs to stop taking reserpine for at least one week, because reserpine, as an antihypertensive drug, has the greatest side effect of causing arrhythmia, bradycardia, and even cardiac arrest in severe cases. Therefore, for patients with hypertension, if they take reserpine during elective surgery, they need to stop taking it for at least one week in order to bring the reserpine in their body down to normal level gradually, otherwise the side effects of reserpine may cause serious heart diseases during surgery, such as arrhythmia or even cardiac arrest, which may affect the patient’s life and even cause death. Therefore, before surgery, patients with hypertension need to be carefully asked if they are taking reserpine, and if they are taking reserpine, they usually need to stop taking it for 1-2 weeks before elective surgery, or change their antihypertensive medication.