Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Cardiol. Aug 26, 2016; 8(8): 436-446
Published online Aug 26, 2016. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v8.i8.436
Renal sympathetic denervation in therapy resistant hypertension - pathophysiological aspects and predictors for treatment success
Karl Fengler, Karl Philipp Rommel, Thomas Okon, Gerhard Schuler, Philipp Lurz
Karl Fengler, Karl Philipp Rommel, Thomas Okon, Gerhard Schuler, Philipp Lurz, Department of Internal Medicine/Cardiology, University of Leipzig - Heart Center, 04289 Leipzig, Germany
Author contributions: All authors equally contributed to this paper with conception and design of the study, literature review and analysis, drafting and critical revision and editing, and final approval of the final version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Philipp Lurz is consultant to ReCor Medical and Medtronic.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Philipp Lurz, MD, PhD, Department of Internal Medicine/Cardiology, University of Leipzig - Heart Center, Strümpellstraße 39, 04289 Leipzig, Germany. philipp.lurz@gmx.de
Telephone: +49-341-8651428 Fax: +49-341-8651461
Received: April 27, 2016
Peer-review started: April 28, 2016
First decision: June 16, 2016
Revised: June 21, 2016
Accepted: July 14, 2016
Article in press: July 18, 2016
Published online: August 26, 2016
Core Tip

Core tip: The initial enthusiasm for renal sympathetic denervation (RDN) has disappeared. However, the detailed effects of RDN on the complex pathophysiological mechanisms underlying therapy resistant hypertension are only partly understood and are part of ongoing research. Moreover, a number of promising predictors for successful RDN treatment have been identified recently which could help to improve future trial design. This review summarizes important pathophysiologic effects of renal denervation and illustrates the currently known predictors for therapy success.