GUANGZHOU, March 3 (CNS) -- A 20-year-old patient with refractory hypertension has been reduced from five to three drugs a day after undergoing surgery in the hospital for a week. Feng Yingqing, director of the hypertension research office of the Heart Research Institute of Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, recently said that the operation was implemented locally by taking advantage of the relevant policies of the Hainan Boao Lecheng Pilot Zone, and planned to introduce the equipment and consumables required for technology to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area through the "Hong Kong and Macao Medicine and Equipment Exchange" policy.
Hypertension is one of the most common chronic diseases in life, and the prevalence of hypertension among residents over 18 years old in China is 27.9%, and there are about 10 cases of hypertension in every 3 adults. As a "silent killer", hypertension will cause damage to important organs such as heart, brain and kidneys, and it is very likely to be complicated by major diseases such as hypertensive heart disease and renal failure.
"As a chronic disease that requires lifelong management, hypertension requires lifelong medication. However, due to concerns about the side effects of drugs, or because there are too many types of drugs, many patients will resist medication, cannot adhere to medication, stop or reduce medication without authorization. Feng Yingqing said, especially for some complex, stubborn patients with refractory hypertension, exploring a third antihypertensive path in addition to drug treatment and lifestyle control is particularly urgent clinically.
The emergence of innovative therapies for renal artery sympathetic radiofrequency ablation (RDN) has provided new options for the control of hypertension. RDN is a new technology for the treatment of refractory hypertension, which has achieved a leap from "simple drug treatment" to "minimally invasive interventional treatment" in the treatment of hypertension, and is currently the frontier field of international and domestic clinical treatment of hypertension.
Luo Songyuan, Department of Cardiology, Institute of Heart Research, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, said that the operation uses radiofrequency energy to ablate the sympathetic nerves distributed outside the renal artery, blocking the signal conduction of the sympathetic nerves of the renal arteries to a certain extent, thereby reducing the sympathetic excitability of hypertensive patients and achieving the effect of long-term stable blood pressure reduction. It is an important treatment option for patients with poor blood pressure control (especially if oral administration of more than 3 antihypertensive drugs) cannot tolerate long-term antihypertensive therapy.
Considering the characteristics of young and refractory hypertension, after discussion by the cardiology team of Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, it was decided to perform RDN minimally invasive interventional surgery to improve blood pressure control and reduce the incidence of cardiovascular adverse events.
"According to domestic and foreign standards, only after using more than 3 drugs, including diuretics, and excluding other secondary factors caused by hypertension, blood pressure is still poorly controlled, can refractory hypertension be diagnosed." Wu Ying, deputy chief physician of the Department of Cardiology of Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, said.
Feng Yingqing said that this operation was carried out with the help of the policy advantages of Boao Lecheng. With the implementation of the "Hong Kong and Macao Pharmacy and Equipment Connect" and the determination of the second batch of designated medical institutions, Fung Yingqing's team is applying to include the devices and consumables used in this technology into the "Hong Kong and Macao Pharmacy and Equipment Connect" introduction project, and after the successful application, more patients with poor blood pressure control will be served in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. (End)