Well, I bet just like me, your first thoughts were What!!!
Among other things, your kidneys help control blood pressure, and a new medical procedure aims to knock out this control system, to lower your blood pressure substantially.
I just saw this reported on the BBC News tonight, but you can also read about it in Lancet, the world famous medical journal.
The research, by Australian medical scientists, selectively severs nerves to the kidney that have an vital role in controlling blood pressure. This is done via a catheter inserted into the groin which feeds a thin wire up next to the nerves in question. The wire is given a short burst of radio waves and the energy knocks out some of the nerves in the arteries of the kidneys. So they no longer signal to raise blood pressure.
The technique is suggested as useful where patients have trouble remembering to take normal blood pressure controlling medication, or where the medication has little effect, and it proved to be very successful as six months after treatment, 84% of those treated had a lower blood pressure. Okay, not a back to normal blood pressure, but a better level than before treatment anyway, thus lowering their risk of future strokes and heart attacks.
