Resistant Hypertension: Current and Future Management Strategies

SAN ANTONIO — Resistant hypertension (HTN) is on the rise, but it is critical to distinguish it from pseudo-resistant HTN and treat patients with it appropriately with optimally tailored treatment option, said Florian Rader, MD, who presented today on the subject at the Cardiometabolic Risk Summit, an official meeting of Consultant360.

Dr Rader is codirector of the Clinic for Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy and Aortopathies and assistant director of the Non-Invasive Laboratory at the Hypertension Center of Excellence, and is in critical cardiac care at the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. His presentation was titled, “Strategies to Address Resistant Hypertension.”

He spoke on the need to understand the causes of resistant and pseudo-resistant HTN, to address patients’ nonadherence to treatment regimens, and to be familiar with the standard treatment options for resistant HTN. Reasonably effective treatment options do exist for resistant HTN, he noted.

He also outlined a number of investigational treatment options for resistant HTN, particularly renal denervation (RDN), a minimally invasive, endovascular catheter-based procedure featuring radiofrequency ablation or ultrasound ablation of the nerves of the renal artery wall.

Results of ongoing trials will show if RDN is a viable treatment option for resistant HTN, Dr Rader explained, adding that patients with resistant HTN may not be the only patient group that stands to benefit from RDN in the near future.

—Michael Gerchufsky

Reference:

Rader F. Strategies to address resistant hypertension [presented at Cardiometabolic Risk Summit 2018]. San Antonio, Texas. September 16, 2018.