It is estimated that one in three adults have high blood pressure. Though current treatments are effective for many people, there are some whose blood pressure does not come down enough, even when they are on multiple drugs. Now there is news of a new type of high blood pressure treatment.

Unless you measure your blood pressure, generally, you have no idea of what your blood pressure actually is. It could be low, normal or high. It is really a good idea to measure it once in a while.

There a whole range of treatment options for high blood pressure, ranging from controlled breathing to one or more drugs. These treatments will reduce blood pressure for most people. However, there are some people who are resistant to treatment; their blood pressure will only drop slightly, with combination therapy such as a three different drugs, and stays well above the target range.

A small study now suggests an alternative type of treatment for lowering blood pressure. This new method used minimally invasive surgery.

Using a catheter (tube threaded into the body) they were given radiofrequency treatment in a specific area close to the kidney. This treatment destroyed certain nerves. The kidney is one of the major organs for controlling blood pressure. By inactivating certain nerves, and hence stopping some signals to the kidney, blood pressure will drop.

All the subjects in the study were on three blood pressure drugs, and still had systolic pressure (upper number) of 160 mm Hg or greater. Those that had the surgery had a big drop in blood pressure and this drop was maintained 12 months later. The study participants that did not have the surgery, on average, had slightly higher blood pressure after 12 months.

There were no problems for any of the patients that had the surgery. Catheters are commonly used for other techniques such as angioplasty.

This technique could reduce the number of people with heart failure, strokes, heart attacks and eye damage significantly. The use of this surgery could translate into many people not getting a reduced quality of life due to the consequences of uncontrolled high blood pressure, and huge healthcare savings. Hopefully the early findings are repeated in larger studies.

photo credit: Zeusandhera

[tags]high blood pressure, kidney, catheter, surgery[/tags]