UA Open Access Publishing Fund / Resistant hypertension is associated with chronic activation of the sympathetic nervous system resulting in various comorbidities. The prevalence of resistant hypertension is often under estimated due to various reasons. Activation of sympathetic nervous system at the renal- as well as systemic- level contributes to the increased level of catecholamines and resulting increase in the blood pressure. This increased activity was demonstrated by increased muscle sympathetic nerve activity and renal and total body noradrenaline spillover. Apart from the hypertension, it is hypothesized to be associated with insulin resistance, congestive heart failure and obstructive sleep apnea. Renal denervation is a novel procedure where the sympathetic afferent and efferent activity is reduced by various techniques and has been used successfully to treat drug-resistant hypertension improvement of various metabolic derangements. Renal denervation has the unique advantage of offering the denervation at the renal level, thus mitigating the systemic side effects. Renal denervation can be done by various techniques including radiofrequency ablation, ultrasound guided ablation and chemical ablation. Various trials evaluated the role of renal denervation in the management of resistant hypertension and have found promising results. More studies are underway to evaluate the role of renal denervation in patients presenting with resistant hypertension in different scenarios. Appropriate patient selection might be the key in determining the effectiveness of the procedure.

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Malignant ventricular arrhythmias are a common cause of sudden cardiac death. Moderate therapeutic hypothermia (MTH) is routinely used in post-resuscitation care for anticipated neuroprotective effects. However, the safety of MTH in terms of the electrical stability of the heart has not been satisfactorily proved yet. Also, the increased sympathetic tone in patients with heart failure contributes to a higher incidence of malignant ventricular arrhythmias. The aim of this work was to verify the safety of MTH as regards the inducibility of ventricular fibrillation (VF) in the pig biomodel, especially in relation to spontaneous changes in the kalemia and QT interval. Furthermore, we assumed that renal denervation (RDN) could reduce the inducibility of VF. In the first part of the thesis, the extracorporeal cooling was introduced in fully anesthetized swine (n = 6) to provide MTH. Inducibility of VF was studied by programmed ventricular stimulation (8 basic stimuli with up to 4 extrastimuli) three times in each biomodel under the following conditions: during normothermia (NT), after reaching the core temperature 32 řC (HT) and after another 60 minutes of stable hypothermia (HT60). VF inducibility, effective ventricular refractory period (ERP), QTc interval, and potassium plasma level were measured. In...

Background: Renal denervation (RDN) can reduce cardiac sympathetic activity maintained by arterial hypertension (aHT). Its potential antiarrhythmic effect on rhythm outcome in patients with multi-drug resistant aHT undergoing catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) is unclear. Methods: The RDN+AF study was a prospective, randomized, two-center trial. Patients with paroxysmal or persistent AF and uncontrolled aHT (mean systolic 24-h ambulatory BP > 135 mmHg) despite taking at least three antihypertensive drugs were enrolled. Patients were 1:2 randomized to either RDN+AF ablation or AF-only ablation. Primary endpoint was freedom from any AF episode > 2 min at 12 months assessed by implantable loop recorder (ILR) or 7d-holter electrocardiogram. Secondary endpoints included rhythm outcome at 24 months, blood pressure control, periprocedural complications, and renovascular safety. Results: The study randomized 61 patients (mean age 65 ± 9 years, 53% men). At 12 months, RDN+AF patients tended to have a greater decrease in ambulatory BPs but did not reach statistical significance. No differences in rhythm outcome were observed. Freedom from AF recurrence in the RDN+AF and AF-only group measured 61% versus 53% p = .622 at 12 months and 39% versus 47% p = .927 at 24 months, respectively. Periprocedural complications occurred in 9/61 patients (15%). No patient died. Conclusion: Among patients with multidrug-resistant aHT and paroxysmal or persistent AF, concomitant RDN+AF ablation was not associated with better blood pressure control or rhythm outcome in comparison to AF-only ablation and medical therapy.

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