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Renal sympathetic denervation (RDN) is an interventional supplement to medical treatment in patients with arterial hypertension. While the first sham-controlled trial, SYMPLICITY HTN‑3 was neutral, with improved procedural details, patient selection and follow-up, recent randomized sham-controlled trials of second-generation devices show a consistent blood pressure lowering effect of RDN, as compared to sham controls. These new data and the recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) premarket approval of two RDN devices are the basis for the present recommendations update.This joint position paper from the Austrian Society of Hypertension, together with the Austrian Society of Nephrology and the Working Group of Interventional Cardiology from the Austrian Society of Cardiology includes an overview about the available evidence on RDN and gives specific recommendations for the work-up, patient selection, pretreatment, procedural management and follow-up in patients undergoing RDN in Austria. Specifically, RDN may be used in clinical routine care, together with lifestyle measures and antihypertensive drugs, in patients with resistant hypertension (i.e. uncontrolled blood pressure on 3 antihypertensive drugs) and in those with uncontrolled hypertension, after adequate work-up, if institutional, patient-related and procedural conditions are fulfilled., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Purpose:  The objective of the present study was to evaluate the benefit of a thoracic, computed tomography-guided sympathicolysis (CTSy) in patients with primary, focal hyperhidrosis of the hands. In addition, the influence of the amount and distribution of the administered sympathicolytic agent was to be assessed., Patients and Methods:  Retrospectively, 78 patients [13 (16.7 %) men, mean age 31.2 ± 9 years and 65 (83.3 %) women, mean age 34.2 ± 12 years], who had been treated using CTSy, were included in the study. The indication for treatment was primary focal palmar hyperhidrosis grade II and grade III after exhaustion of all conservative treatment options and a continued high level of suffering. CTSy was performed after establishing the entry plane at the level of the intervertebral space T2 / T3 via a dorsolateral approach using a 22-G coaxial needle. On average 5 (2-10) ml of a sympathicolytic mixture (10 ml consisting of 8 ml 96 % alcohol, 1.6 ml 0.5 % Carbostesin and 0.4 ml 0.9 % NaCl solution, with added amounts of contrast medium) were instilled. The volume of distribution of the sympathicolytic agent was determined in craniocaudal direction using CT images. The patients evaluated their sense of discomfort preinterventionally, 2 days postinterventionally, and 6 and 12 months after the intervention, on the basis of a Dermatology life Quality Index (DLQI) as well as the side effects that occurred., Results:  The technical success rate of CTSy was 100 %. No major complications occurred. The interventions performed led to a significant reduction (p < 0.001) in the preinterventional sense of discomfort 2 days, 6 and 12 months after CTSy. As the most common side effect, compensatory sweating was reported by 16/78 (20.5 %) of the patients over the further course. In all of these patients, the volume of sympathicolytic agent administered was below 5 ml. In no case did the sympathicolytic agent extend caudally beyond the base plate of Th 3. No compensatory sweating of the back was observed in 5/78 (6.4 %) patients; here the sympathicolytic volume was above 5 ml and extended significantly caudally below the baseplate of T3.Transient miosis and ptosis was found in 8/78 (10.3 %) patients. In all of these patients, the volume of sympathicolytic agent administered was above 5 ml and it extended markedly cranially beyond the upper plate of T2. A mild to moderate recurrent sweating developed in 35/78 (44.9 %) patients, which was more marked if the volume of sympathicolytic administered was below 5 ml and slightly more pronounced on the left than on the right. Given a high level of satisfaction overall, 71/78 (91.0 %) patients said that they would undergo the intervention again., Conclusion:  For patients with primary, focal palmar hyperhidrosis CTSy represents a therapeutic option that offers good benefit and has few side effects. The amount and spatial distribution of the sympathicolytic agent has an influence on the therapeutic outcome and the side effects., Key Points: · CT-assisted thoracic sympathicolysis is a minimally invasive, low-complication therapy for treatment of severe forms of primary hyperhidrosis palmaris.. · CT-assisted thoracic sympathicolysis can usually be performed on an outpatient basis.. · The quantity and local distribution of the sympathicolytic agent has an influence on the therapeutic outcome and the side effects.., Citation Format: · Andresen J, Scheer F, Schlöricke E et al. CT-assisted thoracic sympathicolysis for therapy of primary hyperhidrosis palmaris-retrospective analysis of the influence of the amount and position of the sympathetic agent on the therapeutic outcome and side effects. Fortschr Röntgenstr 2021; 193: 574 - 581., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Thieme. All rights reserved.)

Resistant hypertension continues to pose a major challenge to clinicians worldwide and has serious implications for patients who are at increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality with this diagnosis. Pharmacological therapy for resistant hypertension follows guidelines-based regimens although there is surprisingly scant evidence for beneficial outcomes using additional drug treatment after three antihypertensives have failed to achieve target blood pressure. Recently there has been considerable interest in the use of endoluminal renal denervation as an interventional technique to achieve renal nerve ablation and lower blood pressure. Although initial clinical trials of renal denervation in patients with resistant hypertension demonstrated encouraging office blood pressure reduction, a large randomised control trial (Symplicity HTN-3) with a sham-control limb, failed to meet its primary efficacy end point. The trial however was subject to a number of flaws which must be taken into consideration in interpreting the final results. Moreover a substantial body of evidence from non-randomised smaller trials does suggest that renal denervation may have an important role in the management of hypertension and other disease states characterised by overactivation of the sympathetic nervous system. The Joint UK Societies does not recommend the use of renal denervation for treatment of resistant hypertension in routine clinical practice but remains committed to supporting research activity in this field. A number of research strategies are identified and much that can be improved upon to ensure better design and conduct of future randomised studies., (Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.)

Transcatheter ablation of renal autonomic nerves is a viable option for the treatment of resistant arterial hypertension; however, structured pre-clinical evaluation with standardization of analytical procedures remains a clear gap in this field. Here we discuss the topics relevant to the pre-clinical model for the evaluation of renal denervation (RDN) devices and report methodologies and criteria toward standardization of the safety and efficacy assessment, including histopathological evaluations of the renal artery, periarterial nerves, and associated periadventitial tissues. The pre-clinical swine renal artery model can be used effectively to assess both the safety and efficacy of RDN technologies. Assessment of the efficacy of RDN modalities primarily focuses on the determination of the depth of penetration of treatment-related injury (e.g., necrosis) of the periarterial tissues and its relationship (i.e., location and distance) and the effect on the associated renal nerves and the correlation thereof with proxy biomarkers including renal norepinephrine concentrations and nerve-specific immunohistochemical stains (e.g., tyrosine hydroxylase). The safety evaluation of RDN technologies involves assessing for adverse effects on tissues local to the site of treatment (i.e., on the arterial wall) as well as tissues at a distance (e.g., soft tissue, veins, arterial branches, skeletal muscle, adrenal gland, ureters). Increasing experience will help to create a standardized means of examining all arterial beds subject to ablative energy and in doing so enable us to proceed to optimize the development and assessment of these emerging technologies., (Copyright © 2014 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Resistant hypertension poses significant health concerns. There are strong demands for new safe therapeutics to control resistant hypertension, while addressing its common causes, specifically poor compliance to lifelong polypharmacy, lifestyle modification and physician inertia. The sympathetic nervous system plays a significant pathophysiological role in hypertension. Surgical sympathectomy for blood pressure reduction is an old but extremely efficacious therapeutic concept, since abandoned, with the dawn of safer contemporary pharmacology era. Recently, clinical studies have revealed promising results for safe and sustained blood pressure reduction with percutaneous renal sympathetic denervation. This is a novel, minimally-invasive, device-based therapy, specifically targeting and ablating the renal artery nerves with radiofrequency waves, without permanent implantation. There are also reported additional benefits in related comorbidities, such as impaired glucose metabolism, renal impairment, left ventricular hypertrophy, heart failure, and others. This review will focus on how selective renal sympathetic denervation works, as well as its present and potential therapeutic indications.

Out of the overall hypertensive population it is estimated that approximately 10% have treatment resistant hypertension (TRH). Percutaneous catheter-based transluminal renal ablation (renal denervation [RDN] by delivery of radiofrequency energy) has emerged as a new approach to achieve sustained blood pressure reduction in patients with TRH. This innovative interventional technique is now available across Europe for severe TRH for those patients in whom pharmacologic strategies and lifestyle changes have failed to control blood pressure below target (usually <140/90 mmHg). In 2012, the "ESH position paper: renal denervation - an interventional therapy of resistant hypertension" was published to facilitate a better understanding of the effectiveness, safety, limitation and unresolved issues. We have now updated this position paper since numerous studies have been published over the last year providing more data about the rationale, therapeutic efficacy and safety of RDN. In the upcoming ESH/ESC guidelines for the management of arterial hypertension, therapeutic options of treatment resistant hypertension will be addressed, but only briefly, and thus it is the focus of this paper to provide detailed and updated information on this innovative interventional technique.

Arterial hypertension is responsible for a significant burden of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, worldwide. Although several rational and integrated pharmacological strategies are available, the control of high blood pressure still remains largely unsatisfactory. Failure to achieve effective blood pressure control in treated hypertensive patients may have a substantial impact on individual global cardiovascular risk, since it significantly increases the risk of developing hypertension-related macrovascular and microvascular complications. Arterial hypertension is arbitrarily defined as 'resistant' or 'refractory' when the recommended blood pressure goals (clinic blood pressure below 140/90 mmHg or below 130/80 mmHg in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus or nephropathy) are not achieved in the presence of a therapeutic strategy that includes lifestyle changes and at least three classes of antihypertensive drugs, including a diuretic, at adequate doses. Recently, an innovative non-pharmacological option has become available for treating resistant hypertension. Sympathetic denervation of renal arteries is a minimally invasive procedure that is performed via percutaneous access from the femoral artery. It consists of radiofrequency ablation of the afferent and efferent nerves of the renal sympathetic nervous system, with consequent isolation of renal parenchymal and juxtaglomerular structures from abnormal stimulation of the efferent adrenergic system. The present position paper of the Italian Society of Hypertension (SIIA) offers a diagnostic and therapeutic approach for the proper identification and effective clinical management of patients with resistant hypertension, who are candidates for renal artery denervation. These indications may have important implications not only from a clinical point of view, but also from an economic point of view, since a proper identification of patients with true resistant hypertension and an accurate selection of patients suitable for the procedure of renal denervation can contribute to an improved control of blood pressure, and thus a reduced risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular complications in these patients.

Increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system plays a major role in the pathophysiology of primary arterial hypertension. Interventional renal sympathetic denervation (RSD) is a novel percutaneous treatment, decreasing sympathetic activity and consecutively blood pressure by ablating sympathetic nervous fibers located in the adventitia of the renal arteries. The procedure has been tested in several clinical trials in patients with resistant hypertension (defined as systolic office blood pressure > 160 mmHg-in diabetic patients > 150 mmHg-treated with ³ 3 antihypertensive drugs) and caused a meaningful blood pressure reduction, lasting for at least 3 years. So far, no major adverse events have been identified; however, data on the long-term consequences are lacking. The present position paper of the Austrian Society of Hypertension is aiming to assist in choosing possible indications for RSD in clinical routine, based on the available evidence in 2012.

Catheter-based renal denervation is a new method for disrupting renal sympathetic nerves in the adventitia of renal arteries. A randomized clinical trial showed a decrease in blood pressure (BP) in resistant hypertensive patients. To guide clinicians and interventional practitioners in the use of this new approach, the French Societies of Arterial Hypertension, Cardiology and Radiology decided to combine their expertise and propose a consensus document assessing the benefit/risk ratio of this technique in arterial hypertension. In 2012, this expert consensus proposed limiting renal denervation to patients with essential hypertension uncontrolled by four or more antihypertensive therapies and with: treatment that includes at least a diuretic; past or present exposure to spironolactone (at a dose ≥ 25 mg/d); and office BP greater or equal to 160 mmHg and/or 100 mmHg for systolic and diastolic BP, respectively, confirmed by daytime ambulatory or home BP measurement, with systolic BP greater than 135 mmHg and diastolic BP greater than 85 mmHg. Finally, renal artery anatomy and kidney function should allow proper intervention (i.e. two functional kidneys, absence of previous renal angioplasty). Renal denervation is a complex interventional procedure requiring appropriate training and associated with arterial complications. Antihypertensive treatment should not be interrupted immediately after renal denervation as the BP-lowering effect is delayed and reaches maximum effect after 3 months. Monitoring of BP, renal function and renal artery anatomy is required 12 months and 36 months after the procedure. The expert consensus requires the inclusion of patients experiencing this procedure in an observational study.

The study included 107 patients with distal lesions of limb arteries treated with the use of thoracoscopic sympathectomy. The best results in the early postoperative period were obtained in patients with Raynaud's disease. Modifications introduced into the methods of its treatment permitted to retain effectiveness of sympathectomy till the late postoperative period in 90% of the patients. Surgery for obliterative endarteritis and atherosclerosis was viewed as a possibility to preserve the supporting function of the limb. This purpose was attained in 73.2 and 62.5% of the patients respectively in the early and in 62 and 25% in the late postoperative periods.

Lesions of the cervicothoracic ganglion (CTG) result in interruption of sympathetic fibers to the head, neck, upper limb, and thoracic viscera. The accurate understanding of the anatomy of the CTG is relevant to sympathectomy procedures that may be prescribed in cases where conventional intervention has failed. This study documents the incidence and distribution of the CTG to avoid potential complications such as Horner's syndrome and cardiac arrhythmias. This study utilized 48 cadavers, in which a total of 89 sympathetic chains were dissected. The inferior cervical ganglion (ICG) and the first thoracic ganglion was fused in 75 cases (84.3%) to form the CTG. It was present bilaterally in 48 of these specimens (65.3%). Three different shapes of CTG were differentiated, viz. spindle, dumbbell, and an inverted "L" shape. The dumbbell and inverted "L" shapes demonstrated a definite "waist" (i.e., a macroscopically visible union of the ICG and T1 components of the CTG). Rami from the CTG was distributed to the brachial plexus, the subclavian and vertebral arteries, the brachiocephalic trunk, and the cardiac plexus. This study demonstrates a high incidence of a double cardiac sympathetic nerve arising from CTG. It is therefore imperative that in the technique of sympathectomy, for intractable anginal pain, the surgeon excises both these rami but does not destroy the ganglion itself. The ever-improving technology in endoscopic surgery has made investigations into the nuances of the anatomy of the sympathetic chain essential.

In this clinico-anatomical study, factors potentially responsible for unsuccessful upper limb sympathectomy (ULS) by the thoracoscopic route were evaluated. This study comprised two subsets: 1) in the clinical subset, 25 patients (n = 50 sides) underwent bilateral second thoracic ganglionectomy for palmar hyperhidrosis, and factors predisposing to unsuccessful ULS were identified; and 2) in the anatomical subset, the neural connections of the first and second intercostal spaces were bilaterally dissected in 22 adult cadavers (22 right, 21 left; n = 43 sides). Alternate neural pathways (ANP) were noted in 9 of 50 sides in the 25 clinical cases (18%). In three asthenic patients (5 sides), fascia overlying the longus colli muscle mimicked the sympathetic chain. The right superior intercostal vein (SIV) was located anterior to the second thoracic ganglion in 6 of 50 sides (12%) and predisposed to troublesome bleeding in 2 of 50 cases; the SIV was posterior to the ganglion in 19 of 50 sides (38%), posing no technical problem. On the left, the SIV was noted outside the field of dissection in all but one case. A successful outcome to sympathectomy was noted in all 25 patients. A spectrum of sympathetic contributions to the first thoracic ventral ramus for the first intercostal space was noted in 37 of 43 anatomical cases (86%). These were categorized according to the arrangements of the intrathoracic ramus between the second intercostal nerve and the first thoracic ventral ramus. The cervicothoracic ganglion (37/43 cases; 86%) and an independent inferior cervical ganglion (6/43 cases; 14%) were always located above the second rib. The second thoracic ganglion was consistently located in the second intercostal space. This study demonstrates that ANPs have little clinical significance when a second thoracic ganglionectomy is undertaken. Technical failures may be avoided if the surgeon is mindful of anatomical variations at surgery., (Copyright 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

Compensatory sweating is a major complaint following endoscopic thoracic sympathetic surgery in treatment of palmar hyperhidrosis. T3 ramicotomy was applied in order to decrease compensatory sweating. From Oct 1999 to June 2002, forty patients underwent T3 sympathetic clipping (group I), and 68 patients underwent T3 ramicotomy (group II) to treat palmar hyperhidrosis. We retrospectively analyzed the rate of satisfaction, result of operation, and grade of compensatory sweating. In group I, 36 patients (90%) showed decreased sweating on both hands, 4 patients (10 %) persistent sweating on both hands. In group II, 46 patients (67.6%) had decreased sweating on both hands, 14 patients (23.5 %) had persistent sweating on both hands, and 8 patients (8.9 %) had persistent sweating in one hand. The rate of satisfaction was 82.5 % (33/40) in group I and 67.6 % (46/68) in group II with no significant statistic difference (p = 0.067). Excluding patients with persistent sweating postoperatively, the rate of compensatory sweating in group II was 67.4%, which was significantly lower than in group I 94.1%, with a p value of 0.003. Although the rate of persisting sweating after operation was high, T3 ramicotomy resulted in lower rate of compensatory sweating compared to T3 sympathetic clipping.

Results from previous studies have shown that the reduction in maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) with simulated microgravity is attenuated in chemically sympathectomized rats. To determine the contributions of the catecholamines from the adrenal medulla in this process, investigations were conducted with 65 saline injected (SAL) and chemically sympathectomized (SX) female rats that were either surgically demedullated (DM), or intact (IN). Microgravity conditions were simulated by head-down suspension (HDS) while controls were assigned to individual cages (CC). The experimental period was 14 d. The rats were tested for VO2max, treadmill run time (RT), and submaximal mechanical efficiency (ME) prior to suspension and on days 7 and 14. Saline injected rats that had intact adrenal medullas (SAL-IN) exhibited significantly reduced measures of VO2max after 7 and 14 d by 15% and 21%, respectively. No significant reduction in VO2max was observed with HDS in the SX-IN animals. Sympathectomized rats that were demedullated (SX-DM) also exhibited a significant reduction in VO2max (12%). In addition, HDS was associated with a marked and significant reduction in RT in all groups. ME for submaximal exercise was significantly reduced after HDS in SAL-IN rats but not in the SX-IN rats. SX-DM rats experienced significant reductions in ME similar in magnitude to the SAL-IN rats. These results confirm that chemical sympathectomy attenuates the expected decrease in VO2max with HDS and suggests that circulating epinephrine contributes to this response.

The authors relate their experience of thirty digital artery sympathectomies in twenty-four fingers. Ten men and two women were operated: six crush injuries to fingers, three Raynaud's disease and two Buerger disease and one scleroderma. All presented digital vascular insufficiency. The pre-operative arteriogram always revealed more extensive thrombosis than suspected by the clinical symptoms. In this way we performed a segmental arterial sympathectomy depending on the site of the thrombosed artery. The follow-up was five years. The immediate postoperative results were excellent. Five years later the results depended on the nature of the initial disease.

An analysis of clinical features and response to sympathectomy of one hundred patients with peripheral vascular insufficiency were reviewed. The commonest symptom was intermittent claudication followed by ulcer, gangrene and rest pain. Symptoms were severe enough to require unilateral cervical sympathectomy in 11 and bilateral in four patients [corrected]. Lumbar sympathectomy was undertaken unilaterally in 59 patients while in 29 patients bilateral procedure was carried out. Nine patients had undergone both cervical and lumbar sympathectomy as they had the disease involving both the upper and lower extremities. The disease was far advanced in 38 [corrected] patients who underwent conservative amputation. A policy of sympathectomy with conservative amputation gave excellent results.

Unlabelled: Thoracic sympathectomy is achieved using the trans-axillary route during the course of a thoracotomy. The indications are Raynaud's phenomenon, digital arteriopathy, and hyperhidrosis. Alongside the surgical approach in theory it is possible to use a thoracoscopic approach for a thoracic sympathectomy, to achieve a physico-chemical destruction, we have studied this possibility using this technique., Material and Methods: Thoracoscopy is achieved under local anaesthetic after creating a pneumothorax. The approach is through the 2nd intercostal space in the mid-clavicular line. Anaesthesia of the 2nd sympathetic ganglion is achieved, the ganglion is destroyed by injection of 8 c.c's of Phenol. 15 patients were treated (15 to 7). The presented with palmar hyperhidrosis (7), digital arteriopathy (6) or Raynaud's syndrome (2)., Results: The first 5 patients were failures which led to a more precise technique. Overall we observed 8 favourable results. If we exclude the first 5 cases we achieved 8 favourable results and 2 failures. The approach to the 2nd sympathetic ganglion using the thoracoscope is not always possible: the vision may be obscured. When it is possible phenolization may yield excellent results comparable to those of surgical sympathectomy., Conclusion: Palmar hyperhidrosis for which we have obtained the best results seems to us to be an extra indication of this technique which enables a cure at the price of a relatively simple procedure and a brief period of hospital stay.