New method to cure high BP developed in UK

Offering hope to hundreds of thousands of people who suffer from high blood pressure, scientists here have developed a revolutionary procedure to effectively cure the condition under an hour.

The new procedure, called renal sympathetic-nerve ablation, involves inserting a wire into a blood vessel close to the kidneys to burn through nerves which carry signals that stimulate high blood pressure, media reported today.

It disrupts signals from the brain telling the kidneys to keep blood pressure raised. Initial tests suggest it can be effective within three months.

Anthony Henry, 68, a retired chef from Stratford in east London, became the first person in Britain to have the operation.

About 15 million people in Britain suffer from high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, with as many as half of those cases undiagnosed.

About one in ten sufferers cannot control the condition with medication or cannot tolerate the drugs, leaving them at greater risk.

Hundreds of thousands of people face a lifetime on medication to reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke or kidney failure.

Claiming it as the most exciting development in the field in the last 50 years, doctors said they could treat the condition with a simple procedure in under an hour.