TYLER, TX (EAST TEXAS NEWS) – Over the past year and a half, two physicians from Tyler Cardiovascular Consultants affiliated with UT Health have been developing a procedure aimed at helping to lower blood pressure in select patients.
The procedure, called renal denervation, targets hypertensive patients who do not respond adequately to medication. To date, it has been used to treat roughly 50 residents of East Texas, all of whom underwent the procedure without complications.
Dr. Frank Navetta spoke about how the latest advances in science and technology are aiding those living with this medical issue that affects so many people.
“Renal denervation is a procedure we have been developing over the past 18 months,” Navetta said.
“We disconnect the nerves that travel from the brain to the kidney and from the kidney to the brain by placing a small catheter, a tube containing four electrodes. Those electrodes are connected to a generator that sends radiofrequency energy to the walls of the renal arteries. And that energy damages the nerves that run between the kidney and the brain in an effort to help treat high blood pressure in people.”
