JOIN USThe treatment, which numbs the nerves that carry signals from the kidney to the brain, has previously been used to treat high blood pressure. Now, a team at Imperial College London is using this technique on patients with heart failure to relieve their symptoms, the Daily Mail reported.
Many of the symptoms in heart failure are linked to the kidneys. It seems the kidneys mistakenly tell the brain to send the body into “emergency mode”, which increases heart rate and raises blood pressure, placing even greater strain on heart and triggering symptoms like breathlessness and fatigue.
The theory is that cutting off certain nerves signals between the kidney and the brain will improve heart failure symptoms, say the doctors. Dr Darrel Francis, the cardiologist whose team is conducting the new trial, was quoted as saying: “Substances, such as adrenaline, are there to help the body conserve blood and make heart beat harder to get blood to the major organs.
“But in heart failure, for some reason, this alarm system is going off all the time. It’s a bit like a car alarm — there to tell us when something is wrong. But if it starts sounding when it’s not supposed to, it gets very annoying.”
Dr Francis says that animal studies suggest it is the kidneys that are telling the body to go into emergency mode.
In fact, the kidneys act as the fluid gauge of the body, measuring levels of blood and water, and incorrectly perceive the reduced blood circulation from heart failure as a sign the body is losing blood.
In their trial, an electric probe will be inserted into one of the arteries near the kidneys, via an artery in the groin. The nerves that carry signals from the kidney to the brain are found in this kidney artery.
Once in position, the probe produces radio frequency energy waves that heat the area by around 20 degrees. This amount of heat is not enough to damage the artery or the surrounding tissue.
However, the temperature permanently inactivates the nerves, so they can no longer send signals to the brain. In the procedure, the patient is awake, but on local anaesthetic. They feel mild pain and tingling in back during the operation, which takes about an hour.
Twelve patients will be involved in the trial at Imperial College Hospitals, including Hammersmith Hospital and St Mary’s Hospital; the first patient was treated six weeks ago and will be monitored for the next six months.
Before the treatment, the patient, who had severe heart failure, was unable to walk more than 200 yards, says Dr Francis. Within two weeks, she could walk up to a mile.
However, the doctors caution that until all the results are analysed, it’s not possible to make any firm conclusions about the effectiveness of the treatment.