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Hypertension and available treatments (Ad feature by Medtronic)

Hypertension (HTN), or high blood pressure (BP), is a chronic medical condition in which BP in the arteries is persistently elevated above defined values.

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High blood pressure often has no symptoms but raises serious health risks1.

  • Affects men and women of all ages and health backgrounds
  • Raises the risk of heart attacks, strokes, heart failure, and kidney failure2,3
  • These risks can be serious—especially if high blood pressure is untreated

For a long time, the only way to treat high blood pressure was through lifestyle changes, like diet and exercise, and medications. Today, there is another approach called renal denervation.

European guidelines (the European Society of Hypertension4 and the European Society of Cardiology5) and a recently published UK expert consensus statement13 support the use of renal denervation as a safe effective treatment option for patients with uncontrolled and resistant hypertension.

What is uncontrolled hypertension?

Blood pressure that is above defined values outlined in clinical guidelines, despite treatment. 4,5

What is resistant hypertension?

Uncontrolled hypertension, despite treatment with ≥3 medications (typically including a diuretic) at maximally tolerated doses. 4,5

Renal Denervation

Renal Denervation is a procedure that calms excessively active nerves near the kidneys that may be contributing to your high blood pressure.

The procedure, explained.

Watch this short video to understand how Renal Denervation works:

Click here to watch

The benefits

  • Renal Denervation may reduce high blood pressure,6-8 which is shown to lower your risk of serious health problems.9
  • The effects of the Renal Denervation procedure keep working 24 hours a day – like a pill you never have to remember to take.6,7
  • Clinical trial results show no impact to kidney function.†,10
  • More than 30,000 people worldwide have received it.11

Reducing blood pressure by 10 mmHg can lower your risk of 12:

heart failure                      cardiovascular events                           stroke

   ↓28%                                          ↓20%                                         ↓27%

           

  1. World Health Organization. Hypertension fact sheet. 25 August 2021 https://www.who.int/news-room/ factsheets/detail/hypertension
  2. Whelton P, Carey R, Aronow W, et. al. 2017 ACC/AHA/AAPA/ABC/ACPM/AGS/APhA/ASH/ASPC/ NMA/PCNA Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines. Originally published 13 Nov 2017 https://doi.org/10.1161/ HYP.0000000000000065. Hypertension 2018;71:e13–e115.
  3. Mayo Clinic. High blood pressure dangers: Hypertension’s effects on your body. https://www.mayoclinic. org/diseases-conditions/highblood-pressure/in-depth/high-blood-pressure/art-20045868
  4. Mancia G, Kreutz R, Brunström M, Burnier M, Grassi G, Januszewicz A, Muiesan ML, Tsioufis K, Agabiti Rosei E, Algharably EA, Azizi M. 2023 ESH Guidelines for the management of arterial hypertension The Task Force for the management of arterial hypertension of the European Society of Hypertension Endorsed by the European Renal Association (ERA) and the International Society of Hypertension (ISH). Journal of Hypertension.:10-97.
  5. McEvoy JW, McCarthy CP, Bruno RM, Brouwers S, Canavan MD, Ceconi C, Christodorescu RM, Daskalopoulou SS, Ferro CJ, Gerdts E, Hanssen H. 2024 ESC Guidelines for the management of elevated blood pressure and hypertension: Developed by the task force on the management of elevated blood pressure and hypertension of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and endorsed by the European Society of Endocrinology (ESE) and the European Stroke Organisation (ESO). European Heart Journal. 2024 Aug 30:ehae178.
  6. Kandzari DE, Townsend RR, Kario K, et al. Safety and efficacy of renal denervation in patients taking antihypertensive medications.J Am Coll Cardiol. 2023;82(19):1809–1823. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2023.08.045.
  7. Böhm M, Kario K, Kandzari DE, et al. Efficacy of catheter-based renal denervation in the absence of antihypertensive medications (SPYRAL HTN-OFF MED Pivotal): a multicentre, randomised, sham-controlled trial. Lancet. 2020;395(10234):1444–1451. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30554-7.
  8. Mahfoud F, Kandzari DE, Kario K, et al. Long-term efficacy and safety of renal denervation in the presence of antihypertensive drugs (SPYRAL HTN-ON MED): a randomised, sham-controlled trial. Lancet. 2022 ;399(10333) :1401-1410.
  9. Ettehad D, Emdin CA, Kiran A, et al. Blood pressure lowering for prevention of cardiovascular disease and death: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet. 2016;387:957-67.
  10. Schlaich M, Mahfoud F, Williams B, et al. Long-term safety and efficacy of renal denervation with the Symplicity Spyral catheter in the Global SYMPLICITY Registry. Oral presentation at: American Society of Nephrology Kidney Week; November 2021; San Diego, CA.
  11. Medtronic data on file. RDN catheter historical data. February 2025. Data include both Symplicity™ Flex and Symplicity Spyral™
  12. Ettehad D, Emdin CA, Kiran A, et al. Blood pressure lowering for prevention of cardiovascular disease and death: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet. 2016;387(10022):957–967. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)01225-8.
  13. Haworth PAJ, Bent C, Chapman N, et al Renal denervation for hypertension management in the UK: a Delphi expert consensus. Heart Published Online First: 17 November 2025. doi: 10.1136/heartjnl-2025-327110