Effect of Renal Denervation on Bood Pressure in Patients on Hemodialysis

Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and hemodialysis have a very high risk for cardiovascular events and a very high cardiovascular mortality. Uncontrolled treatment resistant hypertension (TRH) is an important factor driving this very high cardiovascular event risk. Clinical and experimental studies have clearly shown that sympathetic nerve activity is increased in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and substantially aggravates the progression of CKD. In patients with ESRD and chronic hemodialysis bilateral nephrectomy reduced increased sympathetic nerve activity. Interestingly, kidney transplantation did not normalize peripheral sympathetic activity unless the native kidneys were removed. Thus, afferent sensory nerve signaling from the diseased kidneys to the central nervous system is an important pathophysiologic mechanism in CKD leading to sympathetic overactivity and hypertension. Clinical studies have demonstrated that invasive, catheter-based renal denervation (RDN) decreases the sympathetic nerve activity in the whole body and in particular in the kidneys