Meta-Analysis
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jun 6, 2025; 13(16): 102853
Published online Jun 6, 2025. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i16.102853
Efficacy of catheter-based ultrasound renal denervation in the treatment of hypertension
Yi-Chao Ou, Xin-Yuan Peng, Jing-Xi Yang, Bo-Yu Chen, Peng-Fei Chen, Mao Liu
Yi-Chao Ou, Xin-Yuan Peng, Jing-Xi Yang, Bo-Yu Chen, Peng-Fei Chen, Mao Liu, Department of Cardiology, Cardiovascular Research Center, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong 637000, Sichuan Province, China
Yi-Chao Ou, Xin-Yuan Peng, Bo-Yu Chen, Department of Clinical Medicine, North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong 637000, Sichuan Province, China
Co-first authors: Yi-Chao Ou and Xin-Yuan Peng.
Author contributions: Ou YC and Liu M designed research; Ou YC, Peng XY, Yang JX, Chen BY and Chen PF performed research; Ou YC, Peng XY, Yang JX and Liu M analyzed data; Ou YC, Peng XY and Liu M wrote the paper. Ou YC and Peng XY contributed equally to this work as co-first authors.
Supported by Sichuan Provincial Medical Research Youth Innovation Project, No. Q22063; and Guang'an District People's Hospital Joint Development Research Project, No. 2024 LHFZ04.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: This meta-analysis was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA 2009 guidelines for systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Mao Liu, MD, PhD, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Cardiology, Cardiovascular Research Center, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, No. 1 South Maoyuan Rd, Nanchong 637000, Sichuan Province, China. doc_mliu@sina.cn
Received: November 20, 2024
Revised: December 25, 2024
Accepted: January 18, 2025
Published online: June 6, 2025
Processing time: 82 Days and 20 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Hypertension (HTN) is a prevalent chronic health condition that significantly increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases-associated mortalities. Despite the use of antihypertensive medications, numerous patients fail to achieve guideline-recommended blood pressure (BP) targets.

AIM

To evaluates the efficacy of catheter-based ultrasound renal denervation (uRDN) for the treatment of HTN.

METHODS

Relevant studies were identified through searches in PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure, with a cut-off date at April 1, 2024. A random-effects model was employed in this study to mitigate potential biases. The risk of bias for included studies was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias assessment tool. Statistical analyses were conducted using Review Manager version 5.3. This meta-analysis incorporated four studies encompassing a total of 627 patients. The reporting bias of this study was deemed acceptable.

RESULTS

Compared to the Sham group, the uRDN group demonstrated a significant reduction in daytime ambulatory systolic BP (SBP) [mean difference (MD) -3.87 mmHg, 95% confidence interval (CI): -7.02 to -0.73, P = 0.02], office SBP (MD -4.13 mmHg, 95%CI: -7.15 to -1.12, P = 0.007), and home SBP (MD -5.51 mmHg, 95%CI: -8.47 to -2.55, P < 0.001). However, there was no statistically significant reduction observed in either 24-hour or nighttime ambulatory SBP levels. Subgroup analysis shows that uRDN can significantly reduce the SBP in patients with non-resistant HTN (MD -6.19 mmHg, MD -6.00 mmHg, MD -7.72 mmHg, MD -5.02 mmHg, MD -3.61 mmHg).

CONCLUSION

The current evidence suggests that uRDN may effectively reduce home, office, and daytime SBP in patients with HTN, particularly in those with non-resistant HTN.

Keywords: Hypertension; Renal denervation; Ultrasound; Randomized controlled trial; Meta-analysis

Core Tip: This is the latest meta-analysis to date, and it confirms the clinical significance of ultrasound renal denervation (uRDN) for reducing systolic blood pressure (SBP). uRDN may effectively reduce daytime SBP in patients with hypertension (HTN), particularly in those with non-resistant HTN.