The Safety and Efficacy of Carotid Body Modulation Therapy in Hypertensive Patients by External Ultrasonic Micro-bubble

Carotid body (CB) hyperactivity, with excessive afferent discharge signal to the respiratory centre anautonomic sympathetic nuclei, can result in hyperventilation and sympathetic hyperactivity. And previous studies have found that CB hyperactivity was common in several kinds of cardiovascular diseases and the investigators also found that CB was obviously enlargement in hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases. Hence, CB might play an important role in the development of these cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, Resection of CB or blockade of P2X3 receptors in CB significantly reduced blood pressure (BP) and muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) in patients with hypertension. Therefore, CB may be a promising therapeutic target for hypertension. However, the following questions about CB are needed to be addressed urgently. First, the CB volume enlargement may be a promising indicator for selection appropriate patients for CB modulation therapy, but its relationship with the CB hyperactivity is still unclear. Second, although CB resection could significantly reduce BP in hypertensive patients, but the invasive therapy and completely resection may result in severe adverse events. Based on the aforementioned questions, to find a simple and convenient indicator for assessing CB activity and find a noninvasive method for CB modulation therapy, the investigators designed this study to identify the association between CB volume and CB activity in hypertensive patients and also evaluated the safety and efficacy of carotid body modulation therapy in hypertensive patients by external ultrasonic micro-bubble.