Potential new indications and future studies

Abstract

Despite lifestyle modification and pharmacological approaches, the rates of control of blood pressure are still not optimal. Experimental and clinical studies suggest that renal denervation therapy is an effective and safe treatment for patients with therapy-resistant hypertension leading to a reduction in blood pressure and in systemic and renal sympathetic nervous activation, which plays an important role in the development, progression and prognosis of arterial hypertension. Moreover, besides blood pressure reduction, renal denervation improves glucose metabolism, left ventricular hypertrophy and diastolic function in patients with resistant hypertension. Actually, many small clinical studies suggest that renal denervation may also be useful in diseases other than hypertension such as metabolic syndrome, sleep-related breathing disorders, chronic kidney disease and renal failure, chronic heart failure and polycystic ovary syndrome.