Refractory and Resistant Hypertension in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Different Response to Renal Denervation.

Aim      To compare the antihypertensive effectivity of renal denervation in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and associated refractory arterial hypertension (rfAH) (treated with 5 or more classes of antihypertensive drugs, including a thiazide diuretic and a mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist) and uncontrolled resistant AH (ucAH) (treated with 3-4 drugs).Material and methods  This interventional study with renal denervation included 18 DM patients with rfAH and 40 DM patients with ucAH; 16 and 36 of them, respectively, completed the study in 6 months. At baseline, patients were sex- and age-matched. Study methods included measurement of office blood pressure (BP; systolic/diastolic BP, SBP/DBP); outpatient BP monitoring; evaluation of kidney function (estimated glomerular filtration rate by the CKD-EPI formula); diurnal diuresis volume; diurnal urinary excretion of albumin, potassium and sodium; diurnal excretion of metanephrines and normetanephrines; and plasma levels of glucose and glycated hemoglobin, aldosterone, and active renin. Patients were instructed about maintaining compliance with their antihypertensive and hypoglycemic therapy throughout the study.Results At baseline, patients of both groups were comparable by BP and major clinical indexes, except for higher values of nocturnal SBP variability (p<0.05) in patients with rfAH. At 6 months following renal denervation, both groups displayed significant decreases in office and average daily SBP and also in the "load" with increased mean diurnal SBP. However, the decrease in average daily SBP was almost 4 times greater in the rfAH group than in the ucAH group ( -19.9 and -5.1 mm Hg, respectively, р=0.02). Moreover, 81 % of patients in the rfAH group responded to the intervention (average daily SBP decrease ≥10 mm Hg) while the number of responders in the ucAH group was considerably smaller (42 %; p=0.02). In patients with rfAH, renal denervation was associated with a significant decrease in pulse BP and nocturnal SBP variability and with the increase in diurnal diuresis. No other alterations were noted in laboratory test results in either group.Conclusion      DM patients with rfAH may be the best candidates for the procedure of renal denervation.