A new treatment has been introduced in Bangladesh to lower blood pressure using a technique called renal denervation to patients with 'difficult' hypertension.
The National Heart Foundation Hospital and Research Institute started offering the sophisticated procedure from Saturday when they claimed successful application of the technique on three patients.
Studies suggest 20 to 25 percent Bangladeshi suffer from high blood pressure, of them 10 to 20 percent cannot control it despite lifestyle measures and taking medicines in adequate dosage, a condition doctors call difficult or resistant hypertension.
The new procedure evolved three years back in Europe is seen as the 'only' modern way of managing the difficult high blood pressure that put patients on the risk of stroke, heart attack, kidney failure and severe eye complications.
"A fine tube or catheter is passed into the femoral artery in the groin and traced into the arteries supplying the kidneys," Dr Dhiman Banik of the Institute who took the training of the procedure told .
"The catheter is advanced into each kidney artery in turn and then cauterise the nerves supplying the kidneys.
"It results in interruption of important signals that cause high blood pressure, and lowering of blood pressure starts within weeks," Dr Banik said. "It takes about 30 minutes and requires an overnight stay in the hospital."
The Institute operated three patients for free on the inaugural day while Dr Banik said they might charge Tk 150,000 even after subsidy as because of costly equipment and catheter that each patient needs to buy.
Dr Banik said global studies showed no serious complications in any of the patients treated with renal denervation so far.
"In 1 percent cases it may block the artery of the kidney," he said, adding, "A patient already having symptoms of artery blockage cannot be brought under the procedure."
A clinical trial published in the medical journal, The Lancet, in 2010 demonstrated that renal denervation is both 'highly effective and very safe'.
At present it is estimated that there are almost 1 billion people worldwide with hypertension, the majority in the rich economies.
Due to lifestyle changes, however, it is believed that by 2025, there will be 1.5 billion patients with hypertension globally with three quarters coming from the developing world.
Experts suggest increasing levels of physical activity, weight loss and restricting salt intake to control blood pressure.
The National Heart Foundation Hospital and Research Institute started offering the sophisticated procedure from Saturday when they claimed successful application of the technique on three patients.
Studies suggest 20 to 25 percent Bangladeshi suffer from high blood pressure, of them 10 to 20 percent cannot control it despite lifestyle measures and taking medicines in adequate dosage, a condition doctors call difficult or resistant hypertension.
The new procedure evolved three years back in Europe is seen as the 'only' modern way of managing the difficult high blood pressure that put patients on the risk of stroke, heart attack, kidney failure and severe eye complications.
"A fine tube or catheter is passed into the femoral artery in the groin and traced into the arteries supplying the kidneys," Dr Dhiman Banik of the Institute who took the training of the procedure told .
"The catheter is advanced into each kidney artery in turn and then cauterise the nerves supplying the kidneys.
"It results in interruption of important signals that cause high blood pressure, and lowering of blood pressure starts within weeks," Dr Banik said. "It takes about 30 minutes and requires an overnight stay in the hospital."
The Institute operated three patients for free on the inaugural day while Dr Banik said they might charge Tk 150,000 even after subsidy as because of costly equipment and catheter that each patient needs to buy.
Dr Banik said global studies showed no serious complications in any of the patients treated with renal denervation so far.
"In 1 percent cases it may block the artery of the kidney," he said, adding, "A patient already having symptoms of artery blockage cannot be brought under the procedure."
A clinical trial published in the medical journal, The Lancet, in 2010 demonstrated that renal denervation is both 'highly effective and very safe'.
At present it is estimated that there are almost 1 billion people worldwide with hypertension, the majority in the rich economies.
Due to lifestyle changes, however, it is believed that by 2025, there will be 1.5 billion patients with hypertension globally with three quarters coming from the developing world.
Experts suggest increasing levels of physical activity, weight loss and restricting salt intake to control blood pressure.
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