ABSTRACT
Renal denervation (RDN) has recently been shown to be effective in patients without antihypertensive medication. However, about 30% of patients do not respond to RDN, and therefore, there exists a need to find predictors of response. Individuals are either salt-sensitive (SS) or non-salt-sensitive (NSS) in terms of their blood pressure (BP) regulation. The sympathetic nervous system can influence water and salt handling. RDN reduces sympathetic drive and has an impact on salt excretion. The present study was conducted to test the influence of salt sensitivity in terms of the BP reducing effect after RDN procedure. Salt sensitivity was estimated using the in vitro Erythrocyte Salt Sedimentation Assay (ESS). In 88 patients with resistant hypertension, RDN was performed. Office BP and lab testing were performed at baseline and at month 1, 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 after RDN. A responder rate of 64.7% has been observed. Salt sensitivity measurements (ESS-Test) were completed in a subgroup of 37 patients with resistant hypertension. In this group, 15 were SS and 17 were salt-resistant according to the in vitro assay, respectively. The responder rate was 60% in SS patients and 59.1% in NSS patients, respectively. Electrolytes as well as aldosterone and renin levels did not differ between the two groups at baseline and in the follow-up measurements. The present study showed that salt sensitivity, estimated using the ESS in vitro test, did not affect the outcome of RDN and, therefore, does not help to identify patients suitable for RDN.
ABSTRACT
AIMS: Introduction of a novel contrast injection protocol during rotational C-arm CT (RCT) in cardiac catheterisation of patients with aortic stenosis for aortic root assessment. METHODS AND RESULTS: Fifty-two patients underwent RCT imaging with contrast injection performed either into the aorta (Ao-RCT, n=25) or into the left ventricle (LV-RCT, n=27). Aortic annulus diameters were assessed in a multiplanar reconstruction view and compared with corresponding multidetector computed tomography (MDCT). LV contrast injection additionally enabled measurement of the left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT). LV-RCT improved the accuracy of annulus measurements and correlated well with MDCT data in comparison with Ao-RCT and MDCT (r=0.91, r=0.76, respectively). The Bland-Altman analysis showed smaller differences in MDCT and LV-RCT annulus measurements than between MDCT and Ao-RCT (LV-RCT: mean=0.4 mm, limits of agreement -1.5-2.3 mm vs. Ao-RCT: mean=0.1 mm, limits of agreement -3.4-3.6 mm). The inter-observer agreement for the annulus measurements was significantly increased for LV-RCT as calculated by the intra-class coefficient (ICC=0.85) in comparison with Ao-RCT (ICC=0.52). CONCLUSIONS: Cardiac catheterisation including LV-RCT offers complementary assessment of left ventricular function, aortic valve anatomy, coronary angiography and arterial access routes. LV-RCT for aortic root measurements shows better correlation to MDCT than standard Ao-RCT protocols.
