Criteria for selecting patients with resistant hypertension for a renal sympathetic denervation

Abstract

Aim: To define and develop a procedure that can select patients with resistant hypertension (RH) for a renal sympathetic denervation (RSD) procedure, by being orienting to the specific initial values of β-adrenoreactivity (β-AR) and systolic blood pressure (SBP). Subjects and methods: The analysis included 23 RH patients receiving the maximally tolerable doses of 4 antihypertensive drugs. The investigations involving BP control and a Russian spectrophotometric procedure for determining β-AR in terms of the change in the osmoresistance of erythrocyte membranes (EM) were performed at baseline and 4 and 24 weeks. RSD was carried out using endovascular radiofrequency ablation of the renal arteries. The therapy was not changed during the observation. Results: If SBP was >170 mm Hg and β-AR of EM >40 conditional units (CUs) at baseline, ΔSBP was 17.68±3.24 mm Hg and the efficiency of RSD was 100%. When SBP was <170 mm Hg and β-AR of EM <40 CUs at baseline, ΔSBP was 0.97±4.21 mm Hg (p>0.05) and the efficiency of RSD was low. Conclusion: The overall estimate of baseline SBP and β-AR of EM in patients with RH could determine the expediency of the RSD procedure in order to lower BP. The proposed procedure can optimize the selection of patients and enhance the efficiency of RSD in the treatment of RH.