Hospital with new high blood pressure treatment

New high blood pressure treatment method at Klinikum Solingen

17/10/2012

Surgical treatment of high blood pressure (hypertension) in Solingen. In the Klinikum Solingen future will be the so-called „renal denervation“ offered as a novel treatment for hypertension. With financial support from the Förderverein der Klinikum the new procedure could be established in Solingen.

About half of the over 50-year-old men in Germany suffer from hypertension. Women are much less affected but by no means protected from illness. Although patients can usually be helped relatively well with the help of medication, they often have to take a whole series of preparations, which in turn can also lead to considerable side effects. In particularly severe cases, the procedure of renal denervation promises a remedy. Targeted sympathetic nerve fibers of the kidney, which are responsible for the development of hypertension, are deserted. So far, the treatment method is primarily intended for patients whose blood pressure is difficult or impossible to adjust.

Changing the lifestyle can counteract hypertension
In most hypertensive patients, the usual drugs suggest relatively well and by regular intake stabilize the blood pressure. Light forms may even be remedied on the basis of a lifestyle change without the use of medication. By changing the diet or avoiding unhealthy foods, reducing existing overweight, adequate physical activity and reducing personal stress, hypertension can be counteracted. In severe forms of hypertension, however, the success of the drugs and the lifestyle change are extremely limited.

Kidneys with significant influence on blood pressure
Physicians speak of hypertension or hypertension from blood pressure values ​​of 140 to 90 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) - the normal values ​​are 120 to 80 mmHg. Particularly severe forms of hypertension reach values ​​of 180 to 110 mmHg and more. Blood pressure regulation is subject to extremely complex processes that can not be fully explained to this day. However, it is clear that the kidneys have a significant influence on blood pressure. „The kidney sends impulses to the brain, which are responsible for hypertension, "explains the kidney specialist (nephrologist) of the Solingen Hospital, Prof. Dr. Peter Heering to the „Rheinische Post“ (RP). The necessary nerve fibers are interrupted during the intervention of renal denervation.

Surgery for the treatment of hypertension
The kidney specialist works closely with the cardiologist Professor Dr. med. Hans Martin Hoffmeister together. In the heart catheter laboratory of the hospital, a special catheter is inserted into the inguinal artery of the high blood pressure patients via a small incision and advanced to the renal arteries. At its tip, the catheter is provided with electrodes that can be used to obliterate the nerve fibers. The procedure lasts about an hour and is usually performed under local anesthesia. General anesthesia is usually not required. Renal denervation in the Solingen Hospital is used exclusively in patients who need to take at least four different drugs in parallel to regulate their hypertension to some extent. In these particularly serious cases, the process could bring about a lasting improvement in the situation, the experts explained.

Health consequences of hypertension
Sustainable regulation of hypertension is urgently needed, as otherwise long-term serious health problems threaten. Hypertension is considered one of the major risk factors for all cardiovascular diseases. The heart is overloaded, vascular calcifications (arteriosclerosis), kidney and other organ damage favors. The risk of a heart attack or stroke increases. In addition, the eyes suffer and at worst threaten visual impairment or even blindness. It is particularly critical that hypertension usually goes unnoticed for years and reacts only when the first symptoms appear. According to the experts, general complaints such as headache, rapid heartbeat or dizziness should therefore also be taken seriously as possible indications of hypertension. Furthermore, persistent nervousness and sleep disorders should also be considered as potential side effects of hypertension. (Fp)

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Picture: Philipp Flury