As of: March 8, 2024, 11:47 a.m
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Prof. Martin Schmidt (left), chief physician of cardiology at the Ebersberg district clinic, destroys nerves in the kidney during a renal denervation in the cardiac catheter laboratory at the Ebersberg district clinic - supported by Tobias Lang.
It is a procedure that can currently only be carried out at a few clinics in Germany.
© District Clinic
The cardiology department at the Ebersberg District Clinic has successfully carried out a newly upgraded procedure against high blood pressure.
As one of the first clinics in Germany, as the house emphasizes.
Ebersberg
- “The so-called renal denervation helps people whose high blood pressure is difficult or impossible to control with medication,” explains chief physician Prof. Martin Schmidt.
Almost one in three people in Germany suffers from high blood pressure.
Hypertension, as doctors call it, is a risk factor.
The increased pressure on the vessels can damage organs, lead to stroke, heart failure, heart attack and cardiac arrhythmias.
“Many sufferers receive medication that lowers blood pressure.
But that doesn’t help for everyone,” says Prof. Martin Schmidt.
In such cases, renal denervation can be considered as therapy.
Minimally invasive procedure
It is a minimally invasive procedure in which an approximately 80 centimeter long catheter is inserted into the renal artery via the groin.
The kidney plays an important role in blood pressure.
It is the central control point for blood pressure in the human body through the production of hormones and the control of the salt and water balance.
Starting from the brain, impulses are also sent to the kidneys via nerve pathways.
In some patients, this sympathetic nervous system is overexcitable - resulting in permanently elevated blood pressure.
This is exactly where the procedure comes in, which the team led by chief physician Schmidt successfully carried out for the first time at the beginning of March.
“A wire is moved via the catheter to the renal artery, at the ends of which there are four electrodes with which we can destroy the nerves,” he explains.
The electrodes are heated to 50 to 60 degrees using radio frequency energy.
This is called an ablation.
“Our patients are sedated for renal denervation and given pain medication.
General anesthesia is not necessary,” says the cardiologist.
The procedure takes about an hour.
The patients then stay one night in the district clinic.
Martin Schmidt, cardiologist.
© District Clinic
Whether patients with high blood pressure are suitable for renal denervation should first be clarified by a hypertension specialist, cardiologist or nephrologist.
Among other things, the blood pressure level in a 24-hour measurement and the number of medications used play a role.
In addition, other possible causes of high blood pressure must be ruled out.
Only a few clinics in Germany carry out the surgical method
Currently, very few clinics carry out renal denervation, says the district clinic.
Schmidt, a cardiologist and nephrologist himself a member of the Hypertension League, carried out a precursor procedure to the current renal denervation at a Munich clinic between 2010 and 2014.
“In principle it is the same procedure.
“However, the catheter has changed,” says Schmidt.
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According to the clinic, the studies on the success of the procedure were not clear at the time, which is why it was not covered by health insurance companies and was therefore hardly used.
There are now new studies that have come to clearly positive results, so that the procedure has been clearly upgraded in the guidelines of the European High Blood Pressure Society: Blood pressure values would decrease significantly on average over a period of 36 months after the procedure.
“We think that we can offer a very good treatment method to many high blood pressure patients who are difficult to control,” says Prof. Martin Schmidt with conviction.
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