A INNOVATIVE medical technique called deep brain stimulation (DBS) has successfully and dramatically reduced a woman's life-threatening high blood pressure.
Amely Hoffmann, who lives in Germany, had suffered from extremely high blood pressure for 10 years. The condition was causing exhaustion and migraines and she was taking eight different blood pressure medications, which were also causing side effects.
Mrs Hoffman had many hospital stays and was afraid of what the future might bring. She experienced eight bouts of sudden deafness, becoming completely deaf in the right ear and partially deaf in the left.
Despite countless tests and check-ups, no one seemed to be able to find the cause of her extreme hypertension.
After a chance discovery online, Mrs Hoffman went to see Nik Patel, a neurosurgeon at the University of Bristol, who had published details of a case where a patient was treated with DBS for neuropathic pain but the procedure had also resolved his hypertension (high blood pressure).
When Mrs Hoffmann first visited Bristol to see consultant cardiologist Angus Nightingale her blood pressure was 320/150 mmHg.Normal blood pressure is 90-120/60-80 mmHg and a patient with severe hypertension would typically have blood pressure of 180/90 mmHg.
Dr Nightingale said it was the highest blood pressure he had ever seen. "We checked this several times to make sure it was real. It's amazing the body has survived with such a high blood pressure. We were worried she could have a stroke at any time."
Mrs Hoffmann became the first known person in the world to have elective DBS for a cardiovascular disease as part of a research trial.
After the procedure, her blood pressure dropped 100-150 mmHg and she was able to stop taking seven of the drugs she had previously taken.
Two-and-a-half years later the treatment was still working with Mrs Hoffmann's blood pressure ranging from 180-220/130 mmHg.
DBS involves inserting an electrode - a thin insulated wire - into the brain. The wire is connected to a device similar to a pacemaker, which is implanted into the brain to stimulate a specific area. It is typically used in patients with Parkinson's disease and those with intractable pain.
At the hospital in North Bristol it is carried out by robot.
High blood pressure can lead to heart failure, renal failure and stroke. Up to 15 per cent of people with hypertension do not respond to the current drug therapies or devices available.
Studies have found that the DBS reduces the activity of nerves regulating blood pressure by up to 40 per cent.
"We are impressed by these encouraging findings which may hold promise for a substantially large population of patients with drug-resistant hypertension who otherwise remain at risk of suffering strokes and cardiovascular disease," Dr Patel said.