The year in cardiology: cardiovascular prevention

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The Current Status of Devices for the Treatment of Resistant Hypertension

Arterial hypertension is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Although blood pressure-lowering therapies significantly reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events, blood pressure control remains unsatisfactorily low. Several device-based antihypertensive therapies have been investigated in patients with treatment-resistant hypertension and in patients unable or unwilling to adhere to antihypertensive medication. As the field of device-based therapies is subject to constant change, this review aims at providing an up-to-date overview of different device-based approaches for the treatment of hypertension. These approaches target the sympathetic nervous system (renal denervation, baroreflex amplification therapy, baroreflex activation therapy, and carotid body ablation) or alter mechanical arterial properties by creating an iliac arteriovenous fistula. Notably, the use of all of these treatment options is not recommended for the routine treatment of hypertension by current guidelines but should be investigated in the context of controlled clinical studies.

Looking back and thinking forwards - 15 years of cardiology and cardiovascular research

The first issue of Nature Reviews Cardiology was published in November 2004 under the name Nature Clinical Practice Cardiovascular Medicine. To celebrate our 15th anniversary in 2019, we invited six of our Advisory Board members to discuss what they considered the most important advances in their field of cardiovascular research or clinical practice in the past 15 years and what changes they envision for cardiovascular medicine in the next 15 years. Several practice-changing breakthroughs are described, including advances in procedural techniques to treat arrhythmias and hypertension and the development of novel therapeutic strategies to treat heart failure and pulmonary arterial hypertension, as well as those that target risk factors such as inflammation and elevated LDL-cholesterol levels. Furthermore, these key opinion leaders predict that machine learning technology and data derived from wearable devices will pave the way towards the coveted goal of personalized medicine.

Renal Denervation: Is It Ready for Prime Time?

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Interventional cardiology and in particular the field of renal denervation is subject to constant change. This review provides an up to date overview of renal denervation trials and an outlook on what to expect in the future.

RECENT FINDINGS

After the sham-controlled SYMPLICITY HTN-3 trial dampened the euphoria following early renal denervation trials, the recently published results of the sham-controlled SPYRAL HTN and RADIANCE HTN trials provided proof-of-principle for the blood pressure-lowering efficacy of renal denervation. However, these studies underline the major issue of patients' non-adherence to antihypertensive medication as well as the need for reliable patient- and procedure-related predictors of response. The second generation of sham-controlled renal denervation trials provided proof of principle for the blood pressure-lowering efficacy of RDN. However, larger trials have to assess long-term safety and efficacy.