Revolutionary device found to lower blood pressure

A revolutionary device has been shown to significantly lower blood pressure among patients with uncontrolled high blood pressure, compared to those treated with usual drug measures - according to research from Queen Mary University of London and published in The Lancet. The device - developed by ROX Medical and named the 'Coupler' - is a paper clip sized implant which is inserted between the artery and vein in the upper thigh, in a procedure lasting around 40 minutes under local anaesthetic. Researchers led a randomised, blinded endpoint clinical trial with patients from multiple European Centres of Hypertension Excellence - including the Barts Blood Pressure Clinic at Barts Health NHS Trust in east London - all of whom had resistant high blood pressure and had not responded to at least three types of drug treatment. The team compared the effects of the Coupler versus usual medical treatment in 83 patients of whom 44 received the ROX Coupler therapy. Patients who received the Coupler experienced a significant and durable reduction in blood pressure. There was also a reduced number of hypertensive complications and hospital admissions for high blood pressure crises. The Coupler also worked well among patients who had failed to respond to renal denervation (another new approach to treating high blood pressure), suggesting the Coupler targets different mechanisms of blood pressure control.