MARLTON, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — Virtua Health is offering a new procedure aimed at helping to control blood pressure for people who have been struggling the most. The treatment is the first of its kind in the state.
Blood pressure is a tricky thing for people to manage. It can fluctuate hour by hour, and it is influenced by many factors.
Kidneys may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about blood pressure regulation, but Dr. Kintur Sanghvi says kidneys are the key to this new treatment.
Sanghvi says, in some people with high blood pressure, a connection between the kidneys and the nervous system can go haywire.
“That’s the sympathetic nervous system, that’s the body’s ‘fight and flight’ response,” Sanghvi said. “Disrupting that achieves the blood pressure control.”
Sanghvi says the way to correct an overactive nervous system response is to shock it by sending a radio frequency by way of a wire inserted through a catheter.
“By this procedure, we are lowering that tone of the nerve activity, a cross connection between the kidney and the brain that drives the blood pressure regulation for the whole body,” said Sanghvi.
He says this treatment is not a substitute for a healthy diet and lifestyle. Sanghvi says the procedure is offered to people who, despite being prescribed several medications, are still having blood pressure problems.
More information about the procedure is available at Virtua’s website.