Surgical, interventional, and device innovations in the management of hypertension

The prevalence of hypertension around the world has increased significantly with projections for an increasing major global burden of hypertension. Medication-resistant hypertension can be perplexing and frustrating. The existence of these difficult patients results in the need for additional approaches to treatment including surgery, percutaneous interventions, and device management. The sophistication of these techniques has progressed markedly and initial procedures such as classical sympathectomy and renal artery bypass are almost never performed. Newer techniques of angioplasty with stenting, renal artery denervation, and baroreflex activation therapy via electrical stimulation of the carotid baroreceptors are now in use with increasing evidence for significant benefit.