Physiological Study of the Efficacy and Mechanistic Effects of Alcohol Renal Denervation

Completed · Early Phase 1

Conditions studied: Hypertension

In brief

Hypertension is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke, two of the leading causes of death in the United States. Hypertension is a common and widespread problem; unfortunately, current treatment strategies fail to adequately control blood pressure in up to 50% of patients either because of failure to take prescribed medications (because of cost, side effects, inconvenience etc.) or lack of therapeutic response. Indeed, it is estimated that 50% of patients stop taking antihypertensive medication within 6-12 months after the initiation of drug therapy. Despite enthusiasm for a novel approach called renal denercation, presently there are no integrative studies of the antihypertensive effect of renal denervation on the multiple regulatory pathways it may consequentially affect. Experimental evidence from pre-clinical models suggests the effects are due to reducing efferent sympathetic activity and thus lowering blood pressure by altering the renin-angiotensin system. Uncontrolled clinical studies in humans suggest that when effective, this procedure may also lower renal sympathetic nerve activity. However the sympathetic response to monopolar radiofrequency therapy has been highly variable. Moreover, there have been no assessments of procedural efficacy performed in humans. Thus the actual mechanism by which this type of procedure reduces BP in humans is largely unknown, making it extremely difficult to identify the appropriate patients for this invasive procedure. Recently, chemical renal denervation using ethanol (EtOH), was demonstrated to markedly lower blood pressure in small numbers of patients with resistant hypertension. However the mechanisms by which blood pressure is altered using this novel technique in humans is entirely unknown, and procedural efficacy has also not been assessed. Therefore it is unclear, whether in humans renal sympathetic nerve activity is lowered following renal denervation using this new approach. The Investigators propose to use high resolution physiological testing to determine the effects of chemical renal artery denervation on sympathetic activity. Therefore the global objective of this physiological study is to provide the first detailed assessment of the integrated mechanistic effects of chemical renal nerve denervation in humans with hypertension that is uncontrolled by conventional treatment (because of lack of adherence or response to therapy).

Key facts

Study ID
NCT03465917
Run by
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
People needed
5
Starts
2018-03-01
Expected to finish
2019-11-12
Last updated by the study team
2020-05-11

Who can join

Age: 18 and older, up to 75. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

Where it is running

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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