When Drugs Fail

Summer 2008

[Pressure Control] For a small percentage of the approximately 65 million Americans with high blood pressure, medications or lifestyle changes have little impact on their condition. “As a result, extreme high blood pressure significantly increases their risk for cardiovascular disease or death,” says Fred Weaver, M.D., chief of the division of vascular surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and a faculty physician with USC’s Cardiovascular Thoracic Institute.

Now, USC surgeons are testing an implantable device that sends electrical impulses to the brain to activate the body’s own blood pressure control system, eliminating the need for drugs. As part of the Rheos Pivotal Trial, they performed the first implant of the medical device on the West Coast. After initial activation of the device, the recipient’s blood pressure dropped by 45 points. “This treatment takes advantage of the function of the body’s natural pressure sensors to reduce blood pressure and improve cardiovascular function,” says Weaver, who is lead investigator of the clinical trial.

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