PCI and Renal Denervation in Hypertensive Patients With Acute Coronary Syndromes

The sympathetic nervous system plays a crucial role in the development and progression of hypertension and its adverse consequences. Despite the availability of numerous effective pharmacologic treatments, adequate blood pressure control is not achieved in a large number of subjects. Patients with essential hypertension generally have increased efferent sympathetic drive to the kidneys and an increased rate of sympathetic-nerve firing, possibly modulated by afferent signalling from renal sensory nerves. Recently developed endovascular catheter technology enables selective denervation of the human kidney. A safety and feasibility trial of this procedure identified substantial reductions of blood pressure without substantial procedure-related complications. The therapeutic value seems to be present not only in hypertension but may also be of interest in many clinical conditions e.g. heart failure, chronic end-stage renal disease and insulin resistance and diabetes. The present study (COMBI-RDN) is a randomised clinical trial in 40 patients to investigate safety and efficacy of the combination of Percutan Coronar Interventiom (PCI) and renal denervation (RDN) where RDN is performed early after acute coronary syndrome (ACS). This study is considered a pilot study to evaluate efficacy and safety in patients with ACS. In a second phase there will be a randomised, multicenter study in approximately 2500 patients to demonstrate whether RDN early post ACS could decrease major adverse cardiovascular events in hypertensive patients with ACS. Research hypothesis Is the treatment with renal denervation (RDN) early post ACS safe and effective and does it leads to improved cardiac function and attenuation of pathologic left ventricular remodelling?