About a third of Georgians are walking around with high blood pressure. Often there are no symptoms, and you may not even be aware you have a problem, but that constant pressure on the inside walls of your arteries gradually damages your body.
An experimental treatment is attempting to permanently turn high blood pressure down.
This study is focused on the 10 to 20 percent of hypertension patients who just cannot control their blood pressure, no matter how many medications they're taking.
Jim Bon says he's one of them. He retired four years ago and just wants to get out and go picking at junk sales and discount stores with his buddies. But Bon can never get too far from his medications.
Jim is taking five different medications - he was taking six - to lower his blood pressure, and it's not budging.
"It's almost like a friend now, I've gotten so used to it that I live with it. I try not to do strenuous things, but I'm retired, I want to enjoy it and do stuff," said Bon.
The retired mechanical engineer is hoping an experimental kidney procedure being tested at Emory University Midtown Hospital will do what no medication can: turn down his blood pressure.
Dr. Chandan Devireddy is focused on the kidneys. They regulate the water and salt balance in the body, but can also drive up our blood pressure.
Devireddy about 40 percent of people with treatment-resistant hypertension experience surges of adrenaline, signaling the kidneys to ramp up blood pressure. This study is using a minimally-invasive catheter procedure to turn off certain nerve fibers in the kidneys.
"We go into the arteries to the kidneys and deliver radio frequency energy in about four to six spots along the arteries that supply blood to the kidneys," said Devireddy. "And essentially shut down that excess adrenaline surge to the kidneys."
Devireddy says it takes a few months, but earlier studies in other countries show the treatment may permanently reduce high blood pressure.
"The average drop in blood pressure was approximately 30 points on top of the existing medication," said Devireddy.
Bon is hoping to enroll in the study, which locally is recruiting 20 volunteers with long-term high blood pressure that hasn't responded to at least three medications. He's trying to exercise and eat a little better, but Bon is convinced this could be a breakthrough for people like him.
"There's a lot of us running around. Short, barreled-shaped, recently-retired folks that would like to have kind of a new lease on life," said Bon.
Both Emory University Midtown and The Piedmont Heart Institute are participating in the SYMPLICITY HTN-3 Blood Pressure Trial.
The study is double-blinded, so half of the volunteers will get the investigational procedure, half will get a so-called "sham" procedure. Researchers and participants won't know who got what until it's over.
They are currently enrolling patients with treatment resistant high blood pressure who are currently taking three or more medications to control their blood pressure. To find out more about the requirements and the research, go to http://www.symplifybptrial.com/find/#GA
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Children's Miracle Network Hospitals raises funds for 170 children's hospitals across the United States and Canada. Click here for more on our local heroes!
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