High blood pressure is becoming more common worldwide and can be very difficult to manage.
While eating healthier, being active, and taking medicine can help, many people still have blood pressure that stays too high. This increases their risk of heart disease, kidney problems, and stroke.
A recent study published in the JAMA medical journal has introduced a new treatment option. It’s a simple procedure done under the skin, similar to how doctors insert a small tube, called a stent, to open blocked blood vessels. This new method is meant for people whose high blood pressure stays high even after taking medicine.
The procedure uses sound energy, sent through a small balloon, to affect the nerves connected to the main blood vessel that supplies the kidneys. It’s called renal denervation, or RDN. It can be used on its own or along with medication to lower blood pressure.
The RDN procedure is minimally invasive, meaning it doesn’t require large cuts. A small tube, called a catheter, is inserted into the body through a tiny opening in the wrist or groin.
The catheter is guided to the blood vessel leading to the kidney. Once in place, sound energy or radio waves are sent into the surrounding tissue. This lowers the activity of certain nerves, which helps reduce blood pressure. After treating both kidneys, the catheter is removed.
A large clinical trial, called the Radiance II trial, tested this treatment in 224 patients with uncontrolled high blood pressure. The results showed that patients had lower blood pressure for at least two months after the procedure.
Dr. Stephen Jenkins from Ochsner Health, one of the study’s authors, said this offers a new option for patients struggling to keep their blood pressure under control.
Earlier studies had already shown that this procedure could help people with mild to moderate or resistant high blood pressure. The new trial confirms it also works for those whose blood pressure is not controlled even with medication.
Three related studies, covering data from over 500 patients, were also published in JAMA Cardiology. They showed consistent results — the procedure lowers blood pressure in different types of high blood pressure cases.
For those looking to manage high blood pressure, other research has suggested that drinking tea, eating within a set time each day, reducing added sugar, and increasing vitamin D intake may also help, especially for people with diabetes.
This new RDN procedure could be a valuable new tool for people whose blood pressure is difficult to control, offering hope for better health and a lower risk of serious complications.
If you care about blood pressure, please read studies that timing matters when taking high blood pressure pills and 1 in 5 people with high blood pressure taking a drug worsen the disease.
For more information about blood pressure, please read studies that new research challenges conventional blood pressure guidelines and scientists make a big breakthrough in high blood pressure treatment.
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