Hellenic Journal of Cardiology (Sep 2021)

Joint ESH excellence centers' national meeting on renal sympathetic denervation: A Greek experts’ survey

  • Michael Doumas,
  • Emmanouil Andreadis,
  • Markos Andronoglou,
  • Periklis Davlouros,
  • Kyriakos Dimitriadis,
  • Eugene Gkaliagkousi,
  • Harris Grassos,
  • Apostolos Hatzitolios,
  • Panagiotis Iliakis,
  • Rigas Kalaitzidis,
  • Emmanouil Kallistratos,
  • Alexandros Kasiakogias,
  • Dimitrios Konstantinidis,
  • Vasilios Kotsis,
  • Thomas Makris,
  • Athanasios Manolis,
  • Athanasios Moulias,
  • Maria Marketou,
  • Ioannis Papadakis,
  • Dimitrios Papadopoulos,
  • Leonidas Poulimenos,
  • Elias Sanidas,
  • Pantelis Sarafidis,
  • Christos Savopoulos,
  • George Stergiou,
  • Fotis Tatakis,
  • Konstantinos Thomopoulos,
  • Helen Triantafyllidi,
  • Areti Triantafyllou,
  • Dimitrios Vlachakos,
  • Pantelis Zebekakis,
  • Antonios Ziakas,
  • Vasilios Papademetriou,
  • Costas Tsioufis

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 62, no. 5
pp. 355 – 358

Abstract

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Objective: The efficacy of renal sympathetic denervation (RDN) has been affirmed by a number of recent clinical studies, despite controversies in this field over the last five years. Therefore, it is of paramount importance that hypertension experts debate the merits of RDN by revealing and expressing their personal beliefs and perspectives regarding this procedure. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among Greek leaders of the Hypertension Excellence Centers with the use of a closed-type questionnaire specifically designed to elicit information and evaluate the respondent's views and perspectives about RDN efficacy, safety and ideal target patient population. Results: A total of 36 participants completed the survey. Based on the results, RDN was considered efficient (91.7%) and safe (94.5%), while the overwhelming majority of the participants felt confident in the long-term efficacy (88.9%) of the intervention and that it lacks reliable predictors of blood pressure response (94.5%). Patients with resistant (91.7%), ultra-resistant (94.4%), and uncontrolled hypertension (80.6%) were suggested as ideal candidates for RDN. Establishing a close co-operation between interventionalists and hypertension experts was considered essential to ensure the efficacy (97.2%) as well as the safety (97.3%) of the procedure. Conclusion: The vast majority of Greek hypertension experts surveyed were convinced of the efficacy and safety of RDN based on the preponderance of available scientific and clinical data. Identification of the ideal patient group remains controversial. Respondents generally agreed on the necessity of building close collaborative relationships between interventionalists and hypertension experts in order to improve RDN clinical outcome.

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