CardioExchange Archive

February 19th, 2015

Companies Plan To Resume Renal Denervation Trials

Larry Husten, PHD

Medtronic and Boston Scientific have announced plans to start phase 2 clinical trials this year for their updated renal denervation catheters. The once promising new technology is intended to treat hypertension unresponsive to drug therapy. The failure last year of Medtronic’s Symplicity HTN-3, the first large pivotal trial to rigorously test renal denervation, sent manufacturers back to their […]

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January 22nd, 2015

New Device to Lower Resistant Hypertension Shows Early Promise

Larry Husten, PHD

A novel implantable device appears to show early promise in the treatment of resistant hypertension. The “Coupler” device from ROX Medical is about the size of a paper clip and is delivered via a catheter to the upper thigh, where it creates an anastomosis between the distal external iliac vein and artery, thereby mechanically lowering […]

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April 14th, 2014

The Uncertain Future of Renal Denervation

Larry Husten, PHD

Following the spectacular crash and burn of the SYMPLICITY HTN-3 trial at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) meeting two weeks ago, the future of renal denervation (RDN) — the once highly promising catheter technology that many thought would cure resistant hypertension — appears in doubt. Although the device has not been approved in the U.S. — and will not be approved […]

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April 7th, 2014

Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: April 7th

Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP

This week’s topics include SYMPLICITY HTN-3, CoreValve, MADIT-CRT, and more.

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March 29th, 2014

No Benefit Found in First Real Test of Renal Denervation

Larry Husten, PHD

SYMPLICITY HTN-3, the eagerly awaited first rigorous test of renal denervation, shows that the real effect of the novel blood-pressure-lowering technology is dramatically lower than earlier expectations, which had been fueled by data from previous uncontrolled trials. Results of SYMPLICITY HTN-3 were presented at the American College of Cardiology conference in Washington, DC, and published simultaneously […]

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January 9th, 2014

Pivotal Renal Denervation Trial Fails to Show Efficacy

Larry Husten, PHD

Medtronic announced today that the SYMPLICITY HTN-3 trial of its much-anticipated  renal denervation device had failed to meet its primary efficacy endpoint. Renal denervation has been widely touted as a breakthrough product that could dramatically lower blood pressure by as much as 30 mm Hg, allowing physicians to cure the most severe form of high blood pressure, resistant hypertension. “SYMPLICITY […]

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December 20th, 2012

Is “Zapping the Kidneys” Miraculous?

Richard A. Lange, MD, MBA and L. David Hillis, MD

Renal denervation for resistant hypertension is generating a lot of excitement. In this blog, Rick Lange and David Hillis take stock of the evidence and the efforts underway to explore the potential scope of indications for the procedure.

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December 18th, 2012

Promising One-Year Results for Renal Denervation in Resistant Hypertension

Larry Husten, PHD

Denervation of the renal sympathetic nerve may become an important new tool in the fight against resistant hypertension.  Previously, the main results of the Symplicity HTN-2 trial demonstrated that in selected patients renal denervation resulted in a large and highly significant reduction in systolic blood pressure (BP) at six months. Now, longer followup from the trial, published in Circulation, […]

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November 26th, 2012

Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: November 26th

Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP

This week’s topics include fish oil and postoperative AF, low-dose aspirin for preventing recurrent VTE, a long-term comparison of endovascular and open repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm, and more.

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September 12th, 2012

Study Predicts Renal Denervation Will Be Cost-Effective in Resistant Hypertension

Larry Husten, PHD

Renal denervation (RDN) for resistant hypertension may be cost-effective and may provide long-term clinical benefits, according to a new analysis published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Benjamin Geisler and colleagues developed a model to predict the impact of the Medtronic Symplicity RDN system in patients with resistant hypertension. Over 10 years, according to […]

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