Emerging Treatment Options in Patients With Difficult-to-Treat Hypertension - Episode 22
How Clinicians can Prepare for the Future of Resistant Hypertension Care
A panelist discusses how future improvements in resistant hypertension management will focus on overcoming medication noncompliance through long-acting injectable treatments and device-based options like renal denervation, while emphasizing best practices including accurate out-of-office blood pressure measurements and systematic treatment protocols targeting 130/80 mmHg.
Future Directions
Looking to the future, improving approaches to overcome high noncompliance rates with medical therapies remains a critical need. Promising developments include treatments that don't require daily medication ingestion, such as injectable long-acting medications dosed every few weeks or months, and device-based treatment options like renal denervation, which has recently received FDA approval.
Collecting more comprehensive safety data and long-term effectiveness data on these innovative approaches will help improve overall control rates for even the most challenging resistant hypertension cases. These advancements could significantly transform management strategies for difficult-to-treat patients.
Best practices for resistant hypertension management include obtaining accurate blood pressure measurements, focusing on out-of-office readings rather than office measurements, evaluating patients for secondary causes of resistant hypertension (particularly aldosterone dysregulation and primary aldosteronism), and implementing simple treatment protocols. Effective medication regimens typically include long-acting angiotensin receptor blockers, calcium channel blockers, thiazide diuretics, and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists, which can help most patients reach the target blood pressure of 130/80 mmHg.
