Novel approaches to treat resistant hypertension

Treatment-resistant hypertension, or resistant hypertension (RH), is defined as arterial hypertension (AH) despite treatment with three properly dosed antihypertensive drugs, at least one of which is a diuretic. Resistant hypertension is associated with an increased incidence of adverse cardiovascular events, renal impairment, and increased mortality. The main treatment of patients with RH is based on maximizing doses of antihypertensive drugs from different groups and adding drugs with complementary mechanisms of action. Despite the combination treatment involving multiple antihypertensive drugs, a small but significant group of patients remains with uncontrolled hypertension, emphasizing the need to find and put into practice new therapies to lower high arterial blood pressure (BP). Among these new methods of treatment, the most promising is the renal sympathetic denervation, showing positive results with the second generation devices.

This review summarizes current knowledge about the treatment of RH, with an emphasis on new therapeutic strategies to achieve optimal blood pressure control.