by Sian Napier

snapier@thekmgroup.co.uk

Results of a trial of a pioneering operation carried out at Kent and Canterbury Hospital have shown it to be an effective treatment for high blood pressure.

Now doctors who performed the procedures hope enough money will be found from health service budgets for more to be carried out locally.

Kent and Canterbury Hospital was one of just two in the UK chosen to take part in the trial of the operation involving almost 200 patients worldwide.

All those operated on suffered with high blood pressure and the new treatment involved inserting a small, flexible catheter into an artery in the upper thigh and threading it into the renal artery.

Once in place the device delivers low-power energy which targets the nerves leading into and out of the kidneys, substantially lowering blood pressure which is not adequately controlled with medication.

The findings of the trial were presented to the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in Chicago last month and have also been published in The Lancet.

East Kent Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was one of only 24 centres worldwide chosen to take part in the study.

Dr Mark Downes, consultant interventional radiologist, was the lead investigator at Kent & Canterbury Hospital, helped by Dr Robert Kaikini, Dr Previn Diwakar and Dr Tim Doulton.

Dr Downes said: “The findings show this to be a highly effective treatment with no significant complcations attached to it.

“The challenge for us in the UK and here in east Kent is how to introduce this into everyday treatment because the present finances of the health service won’t pay for this new technique.

“We are now trying to build a case for extra money to pay for more people to have the treatment.

“It is effective and we should like to provide it across the whole of Kent. I think it will come but whether that is within the next six months or five years remains to be seen.

“Although each operation costs between £3,000-£4,000 balanced against that is the need for people with high blood pressure to take tablets for life which is not good for them.”