New ultrasound surgery can provide hope for hypertensive patients who do not respond to drugs, and the risk of cardiovascular disease, including stroke and heart attack, the results of clinical trials led by Queen Mary University in London and Barts Health NHS Trust and supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIHR).

 

The results were published on the "Lancet" and presented at the EuroPCR conference in Paris. An international clinical trial conducted by the NIHR Barts Biomedical Research Center at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in the United Kingdom from 2017 to 2018 tested a one-hour procedure called "renal denervation" that uses ultrasound energy to destroy the kidneys. The nerves between. Carry the brain that controls blood pressure signals.

 

 

146 patients in the United States, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the United Kingdom were randomly assigned to undergo renal denervation or "sham surgery" - surgery was equivalent to placebo. The patient still deactivates the blood pressure medication for two months unless the specified blood pressure level is exceeded.

 

Two months later, the blood pressure in the renal denervation group was reduced by 8.5 mm Hg, which was 6.3 mm Hg lower than in the sham operation group.

 

More than 66% of renal denervated subjects had a blood pressure drop of 5 mm Hg or higher, compared with 33% in the sham group.

 

No significant adverse events were reported in either group, and the antihypertensive effect of renal denervation was consistent in both gender and race.

 

Dr. Melvin Lobo, UK Principal Investigator from Queen Mary University and Barts Health NHS Trust in London, said: "These results have led our clinicians to undoubtedly believe that this ultrasound-based therapy can improve blood pressure control - at least in the short term. Experiments were conducted to confirm the efficacy and safety of the technique, but we hope they can lead to renal denervation therapy as a substitute for lifelong hypertension drugs."

 

The study has limitations, including a two-month short follow-up period. This is done for safety reasons to minimize the duration of discontinuation of antihypertensive medications by patients. In order to better ensure safety and eliminate rare adverse events, a longer follow-up of the trial and an additional number of patients need to be treated.