Renal Denervation in the Management of Resistant Hypertension: A Comprehensive Review of Literature

Resistant hypertension is a condition in which blood pressure remains elevated despite using 3 or more antihypertensive medications. Though contemporary antihypertensive drug therapies have been essential in treating hypertension, in recent years different studies have explored renal denervation (RDN) as an adjunctive or a replacement modality. Here we summarize an open-label, Symplicity HTN 2 trial and 7 randomized, sham-controlled clinical trials: Spyral-HTN OFF MEDS (Spyral Pivotal), Spyral-HTN ON MEDS, RADIANCE-HTN SOLO, RADIANCE-HTN TRIO, RADIANCE II, SYMPLICITY-HTN 1, and SYMPLICITY-HTN 3, which evaluated safety and efficacy of multiple renal denervation systems (RDN) at lowering blood pressure from baseline, and in comparison, to control group. Prior systematic reviews and meta-analyses evinced a modest reduction of ambulatory and office blood; however, these trials and analyses were limited by short-term follow-up. In our updated comprehensive literature review we summarize the short-term, and long-term effects of RDN, based on the latest randomized clinical trials. Our conclusions based on each summary are unanimous with previous literature findings.