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Renal Denervation: A Historical Perspective

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Interventional Therapies for Secondary and Essential Hypertension

Part of the book series: Updates in Hypertension and Cardiovascular Protection ((UHCP))

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Abstract

The role of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) in the development of hypertension and in particular of resistant hypertension has long been recognized. A great deal of work has been done attempting to explore potential interventions to interrupt the sympathetic influence on systemic vasculature and target organs. Renal denervation (RDN) is not a new technique, and it does not address a newly discovered concept. Surgical RDN was applied almost 150 years ago in an attempt to treat a variety of disorders including renal pain, proteinuria, and severe or malignant hypertension. In animal models surgical RDN was utilized to totally resect and interrupt sympathetic fibers. Renal nerves were resected with a scalpel bilaterally, and the renal arteries were painted with phenol to totally eradicate all sympathetic fibers. Indeed surgical renal denervation resulted in up to 99 % reduction of renal norepinephrine.

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Abbreviations

AF:

Atrial fibrillation

BP:

Blood pressure

dRHTN:

Drug-resistant hypertension

GFR:

Glomerular filtration rate

HF:

Heart failure

NEPI:

Norepinephrine

RDN:

Renal denervation

RF:

Radiofrequency

SHR:

Spontaneously hypertensive rats

SNS:

Sympathetic nervous system

WKY:

Wistar Kyoto

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Veteran Affairs Medical Center and Georgetown University, 50 Irving Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20422, USA

    Vasilios Papademetriou MD

  2. Veteran Affairs Medical Center and George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

    Michael Doumas

  3. Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Michael Doumas

  4. 1st Cardiology Clinic, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Hippokration Hospital, Athens, Greece

    Costas Tsioufis

  5. MedStar Heart & Vascular Institute, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, DC, USA

    Venkatesh K. Raman

Authors
  1. Vasilios Papademetriou MD
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  2. Michael Doumas
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  3. Costas Tsioufis
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  4. Venkatesh K. Raman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vasilios Papademetriou MD .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. First Cardiology Clinic, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Costas Tsioufis

  2. Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, University Hospital Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany

    Roland E. Schmieder

  3. IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, University Milano-Bicocca, Milano Monza, Italy

    Giuseppe Mancia

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Papademetriou, V., Doumas, M., Tsioufis, C., Raman, V.K. (2016). Renal Denervation: A Historical Perspective. In: Tsioufis, C., Schmieder, R., Mancia, G. (eds) Interventional Therapies for Secondary and Essential Hypertension. Updates in Hypertension and Cardiovascular Protection. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-34141-5_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-34141-5_13

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-34141-5

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