Hello, I'm David Kinzeri from the Piedmont Heart Institute in Atlanta, Georgia, and along with my colleague and co-moderator, Dr. Ray Townsend, we welcome you to a program entitled Exploring Renal Denervation for Patients with Uncontrolled Hypertension, a program provided by the SCI Education Committee, as well as the National Kidney Foundation and supported in grant from Medtronic. Hypertension remains the leading cause of death and disability worldwide, and yet in the United States, for example, more than one half of individuals with hypertension do not achieve guideline or societal recommended treatment goals. The recognition of this persistence of uncontrolled hypertension and increasing awareness of non-adherence to pharmacotherapies and lifestyle interventions as well has raised the opportunity for other novel approaches to the care of patients with hypertension, including renal denervation therapy. Renal denervation itself has traveled a very storied path over the past decade, from initial widespread enthusiasm to abrupt disillusionment with the results of the Simplicity Hypertension 3 study, and thereafter, based on careful learning with regard to patient populations treated with renal denervation, procedural technique, and clinical trial conduct, we now have to date five sham-controlled randomized clinical trials among different methods of renal denervation, in fact, demonstrating clinically meaningful reductions in blood pressure with the potential for public health impact. In this program, key experts in hypertension will be addressing gaps in hypertension care and pathways for the care of patients with hypertension, examining the safety and effectiveness of renal denervation therapy, and also addressing issues with regard to disparity in healthcare, particularly with a focus on hypertension, a very topical subject. We welcome you in advance to participating in this program. We thank our panelists and discussants, and we look forward to a very enlightening and spirited discussion. Thank you again.

Renal Denervation

Uncontrolled Hypertension

Dr. David Kinzeri

Dr. Ray Townsend

Piedmont Heart Institute