Recently, the first case of radiofrequency ablation treatment for intractable hypertension in South China was successfully completed at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University (hereinafter referred to as: SMC). The patient is in good health and her blood pressure is kept at about 120/70mmHg while taking one kind of antihypertensive medication, and she can be discharged from the hospital on the third day after the operation. 60-year-old hypertensive patients can get rid of the trouble of taking medication Chen Auntie, 60 years old from Hengyang, Hunan Province, was found to have elevated blood pressure during a physical examination ten years ago, reaching a maximum of 210/130mmHg, and took a variety of antihypertensive drugs, but the effect was not satisfactory. Due to the high blood pressure, the symptoms of headache, head swelling and panic often appeared, and has been treated according to the standard medical advice, taking three or four drugs at the same time. However, his blood pressure still fluctuated at 160-180/90-110 mmHg, and he suffered from hypertension for ten years. When she heard that there was a new treatment method for intractable hypertension and that the first surgery was performed at NAMC, she came from Hengyang to NAMC for radiofrequency ablation of intractable hypertension. According to Zhou Tao, director of the Department of Cardiology of the Third Hospital of Southern Medicine, the operation involved accurately puncturing the femoral artery at the root of the patient’s thigh, skillfully delivering the head end of a 1.3 mm diameter radiofrequency ablation catheter into the renal artery with the help of arteriogram guidance, and then precisely selecting 4-6 target sites according to the length and thickness of her renal artery, using 8-10 watts of energy to ablate some of the nerve endings located in the outer membrane of the renal artery, thus The sympathetic nerve innervating the kidney was selectively blocked. Director Tao Zhou said that only the temperature at the site where the catheter comes in contact with the endothelium of the renal artery is elevated during the procedure, which is usually controlled between 40-50C, and each ablation site takes 1 minute. During the whole procedure, the temperature of the catheter and the power used are all controllable and visible. Moreover, the patient is awake during the procedure and has only slight pain, which disappears immediately after the procedure. The patient felt well after the operation, and the whole operation time was about 40 minutes, and the blood pressure was kept at about 150/90 mmHg. The advantages of radiofrequency ablation for recalcitrant hypertension are minimally invasive, rapid postoperative recovery, and few complications. The blood pressure is maintained at about 120/70mmHg with one antihypertensive drug Benadryl alone, and the patient can get out of bed the next day and be discharged from the hospital on the third day, and the cost of the procedure is about 20,000 RMB. Director Zhou Tao pointed out that the success of interventional surgery for hypertension has provided a new treatment for hypertensive patients, allowing some hypertensive patients to get rid of long-term or lifelong medication. RSD can help patients with intractable hypertension control their blood pressure “This new interventional treatment technique for intractable hypertension is known medically as transcatheter radiofrequency ablation denervation of renal sympathetic nerve, or RSD for short, also known as denervation of renal sympathetic nerve radiofrequency ablation.” The procedure is a new technique for the non-pharmacological treatment of intractable hypertension, said Director Tao Zhou. Currently, it can only help patients with intractable hypertension to control their blood pressure, and help patients with intractable hypertension to get their blood pressure under control with a small amount of medication. This treatment, also called “decompensated sympathetic nerve therapy,” originated in the 1930s, was tried in the 1950s, and finally matured and applied in 2009, with a success rate of 80% to 90% for the treatment of hypertension, as confirmed in an April 2009 article in the prestigious British medical journal The Lancet. . China’s 200 million hypertensive patients are 30% of recalcitrant hypertension Zhou Tao, director of the high blood pressure patients in China currently up to 200 million, despite the combination of antihypertensive drugs and lifestyle modification, there are still 30% of patients with blood pressure difficult to control, called “recalcitrant hypertension”, about less than 10% of ” In 2009, Professor Krum of Australia was the first to report the use of catheter selective blockade of the renal sympathetic nerve in the treatment of hypertensive patients. Although this type of procedure is new, it is relatively safe and less risky because of the use of proven interventional techniques. Director Zhou Tao introduced: “In fact, radiofrequency catheter ablation technology is not a new technology, and has long been widely used in the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias and other aspects. It is only in the last two years that researchers at home and abroad have used it for the treatment of hypertension.” Director Zhou Tao predicts that the percutaneous catheter renal artery radiofrequency ablation to remove renal sympathetic nerve method is currently mainly used in the treatment of patients with refractory hypertension. As experience is gained, the scope of treatment and indications will continue to expand. Thus, the use of this new technique will free many patients with refractory hypertension from the pain of taking large amounts of medication every day and also reduce the chance of other complications in such patients. Although the surgery is relatively safe, there are difficulties in finding the best RF treatment target and deciding how many targets to treat in order to achieve good therapeutic results, so this type of surgery is also not yet available on a large scale immediately.