Hypertension is one of the most important risk factors for cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of mortality. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that in 2019 more than 1.13 billion people worldwide were suffering from hypertension. In spite of the advances in new medical therapies, control of hypertension remains suboptimal. Renal denervation (RDN) neuromodulation treatment was primarily developed to treat resistant hypertension and is potentially a new method for treating congestive heart failure, diabetes, and chronic renal failure. RDN consists of passing a catheter into the renal arteries and ablating their sympathetic nerves using radiofrequency or ultrasound energy. Despite promising results in initial trials, RDN failed to achieve its efficacy endpoints as a treatment for resistant hypertension, but the recent series of successful trials show that RDN is back as a serious treatment alternative. This paper reviews the current state-of-the-art RDN devices including Symplicity Flex, Symplicity Spyral, Vessix, EnligHTN, Iberis, TIVUS system, and Paradise. The paper also provides an in-depth review of future RDN devices which include Cryo-RDN, Golden Leaf Catheter, Synaptic, SyMapCath, ConfidenHT System, and Grizzly Microwave Ablation system.
Keywords: Medical devices; Renal denervation; Resistant hypertension; Sympathetic nerves.
© 2020. Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland.