New Technique to Reduce Blood Pressure Involves Removing Nerves that Connect Kidney to Brain

Researchers have found that removing nerves that connect the kidney to the brain can be an effective solution in lowering hypertension and even potentially reducing risk of strokes and heart related conditions. The technique has already shown good results in treatment-resistant hypertension.

Some 67 million or 1 out of every 3 American adults has high blood pressure and about 36 million don't have it under control, according to a Centers for Disease Control and prevention (CDC) report . High blood pressure is a risk factor for heart disease, stroke and kidney failure. According to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, the disease sometimes has no symptoms for a long time, meaning that the condition might become worse even before a person experiences any symptom.

The present study was conducted by a team of researchers led by Professor Julian Paton at the University of Bristol who found that in mice, removing nerves connecting kidney to the brain led to a decrease in high blood pressure.

"The problem with high blood pressure is that patients develop resistance to their tablets or unpleasant side effects. Our new interventional approaches are based on studies where we have found causative mechanisms generating high blood pressure so we think that they will be most efficacious in patients. And, with luck, they will also mean less pill taking too," said Professor Julian Paton.

In the next phase of the study, cardiologists Dr Angus Nightingale and Dr Andreas Baumbach from the Bristol Heart Institute (BHI) used the technique "renal denervation" on a group of patients who had hypertension.

"The technique is very straight forward, performed as a day case and there are no side-effects. It is becoming a popular technique for patients with both resistance and poor tolerability to high blood pressure medication," Dr Baumbach said in a news release.

So far, about 19 patients have received the latest treatment. In the procedure, a tiny tube is inserted into the artery in the patient's leg. The tube is positioned in such a way that the tube now feeds the blood into the patient's kidney. Radiofrequency energy from the tube is then used to remove the nerves to the kidney that pass around the artery.

 The study 'Translational examination of changes in baroreceptor reflex function after bilateral renal denervation in hypertensive rats and humans,' is published in the journal Hypertension.