New treatment at Rigshospitalet gives hope for patients with high blood pressure

High blood pressure is a widespread condition. And the consequences can be fatal due to increased risk of heart attack, brain haemorrhage, heart failure and severe kidney disorders. Kidney function plays a vital role in a new treatment, which positions Denmark and Rigshospitalet at the lead within blood pressure regulation in Scandinavia.

The kidney - the thermostat of blood pressure
The kidney has many essential functions. However, not many people know that it also functions as a thermostat, regulating blood pressure. The nerve supply to the kidneys plays a vital role in relation to blood pressure, and Rigshospitalet’s new treatment provides hope for patients with high blood pressure. Since 1 April 2011, specialists from the Department of Nephrology and the Department of Cardiology have treated five patients with high blood pressure by burning across nerve paths from the kidneys.

“What makes this treatment, using renal denervation against hypertension (high blood pressure), so unique, is that we unite forces and expertise from nephrology, which specialises in treating kidney disorders and hard-to-treat hypertension, with competences from the cardio-vascular area, where for years catheters have been inserted through the groin in order to burn across the nerves and thereby prevent unwanted impulses from disturbing the heart rhythm. The same principle applies here, however now the renal artery, which supplies the kidney with electrical impulses, is burned in certain places with low-frequency radio waves. And the results are striking”, said Professor Feldt-Rasmussen, Head of the Department of Nephrology.

An axis between specialist areas
The team, consisting of Professor Henning Kelbæk, Consultant, Jesper Hastrup Svendsen, Consultant, and Søren Boesgaard, Head of the Department of Cardiology, as well as Professor Bo Feldt-Rasmussen, Head of Department, and Anne-Lise Kamper, Consultant at the Department of Nephrology, see many possibilities with this treatment, which draws an axis across two large treatment areas.

Even though, in late March 2011, Aarhus University Hospital, Skejby was the first hospital in Scandinavia to use this treatment, Rigshospitalet has overtaken and is already planning to treat 20-25 patients in 2011. And more will follow next year.

A minor international study shows that 80% of treatments reduce blood pressure significantly over a period of six months from the intervention, and in a total of 40% of the cases blood pressure is normalised completely.