The sound wave ‘torpedos’ that could cut your blood pressure 

A torpedo-like device that zaps nerves with sound waves has been shown to lower high blood pressure.

When the device, smaller than a matchstick, is placed in the renal artery (which carries blood from the heart to the kidneys), it fires ultrasound waves to destroy the nerves in the artery walls. These play a key role in regulating blood pressure.

New research shows that destroying these nerves in this way resulted in a significant drop in blood pressure.

One in three adults in the UK has high blood pressure or hypertension, defined as a reading of 140/90 mmHg or higher.

Since hypertension rarely causes symptoms, many of those affected don’t even realize they have a problem.

One in three UK adults has high blood pressure or hypertension – defined as a reading of 140/90 mmHg or higher (file image)

If high blood pressure is left untreated, it can lead to heart failure, stroke, heart attacks and irreversible kidney damage. Treatment usually begins with lifestyle changes, such as dietary changes, eating less salt, or losing weight.

If that doesn’t work, medications such as ACE inhibitors (which widen blood vessels, relieving pressure), beta-blockers (which block hormones that increase blood pressure), and diuretics (which remove excess fluid) can help. But in about a third of patients, these drugs fail to control blood pressure.

The new torpedo technique is based on the understanding that, in some cases, hypertension is caused in part by misaligned nerves in the kidneys, causing more salt and water retention, which raises blood pressure.

In the new treatment, a small incision is made in the groin under local anesthesia and a catheter (a flexible tube) is inserted and passed through the blood vessels to the artery that feeds the kidney.

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Inside the catheter is a small torpedo-shaped device that is attached to an ultrasonic generator at the other end.

The device itself is contained in a balloon that, once in situ, is inflated with water so that it expands to press against the artery walls.

At the touch of a button, the ultrasound is fired around the artery for seven seconds at a time, generating enough heat to destroy the nerves that aren’t firing properly, while the water cools the walls of the artery to protect them from the harmful heat.

In the new study, researchers from Columbia University in the US and the University of Paris in France combined the results of three studies involving more than 500 people with hypertension: The results showed that twice as many patients who received the ultrasound therapy lost their lowered blood pressure to less than 135/85 mmHg, compared with patients in placebo groups, the journal JAMA Cardiology reported in March.

Commenting on the findings, Professor Bryan Williams, a specialist in hypertension at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and president of the International Society of Hypertension, said: ‘It is good to see this pool of data from these well-conducted studies on ultrasound-based renal denervation.

“It confirms what individual studies have shown, that this technique lowers blood pressure on average by the amount of blood pressure reduction we would expect from a blood pressure lowering drug.

‘Even in experienced hands, the technology appears to be safe.

“The challenge is how to position this treatment option alongside the main treatment options for high blood pressure, which are adopting a healthy diet and lifestyle, and using proven blood pressure-lowering drugs when needed.”