On Monday 26 September, Madam Maimon Binte Shaaban became one of the first patients in Singapore to undergo a revolutionary procedure, Renal Denervation, to treat her uncontrolled high blood pressure. She joins a small but growing group of hypertension patients in the world who have turned to Renal Denervation to control resistant high blood pressure conditions.

Madam Maimon suffered from hypertension for nearly 40 years. In the past year, her condition worsened despite taking up to four anti-hypertensive medications and adhering to a low-salt diet. Her blood pressure peaked at 200 mmHg, and her risk for stroke was high. She had run out of options until her cardiologist, Dr Rohit Khurana, offered this revolutionary procedure to her and her family. The family decided that renal denervation was the best chance for Madam Maimon to regain a good quality of life.

This procedure opens up a new treatment option for hypertensive patients who have been unresponsive to lifestyle management and medications (under typically three or more types of medication), who might otherwise have had no choice but to live with their poorly controlled hypertension and its potential complications, including stroke and kidney failure.

Similar to an angiogram, renal denervation requires the insertion of a small needle into the groin area under x-ray guidance.  A small tube is then introduced into the main kidney arteries.  At each location, heat by radio frequency will be delivered through the artery wall to the nerves to disrupt the nerve activity to and from the kidneys.  As it is a minimally invasive procedure, recovery time is short. Madam Maimon was discharged two days after the procedure.

Based on clinical studies, this single treatment appears to have long-lasting anti-hypertensive action with no long-term side effects on kidney function. The medical team is cautiously optimistic about Madam Maimon’s promising early results.