부산대학교 도서관

According to the recent report by Ministry of Health and Welfare in Taiwan, the hypertensive heart disease is still one of the top ten causes of death. Besides, hypertension is also a major risk factor for many diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease and renal disease. Among the hypertensive population, 10-15% patients have resistant hypertension (RH). The definition of resistant hypertension is blood pressure more than 140/90mmHg after maximal or tolerable doses of three or more anti-hypertensive drugs treatment, including at least one adequate dose of diuretic. These RH patients have higher risk of cardiovascular disease and target organ damage. In addition to use of anti-hypertensive medication, lifestyle modification and avoiding drugs causing hypertension, good compliance for anti-hypertensive drug use are also important factors for hypertension therapy. Recently, renal sympathetic denervation provides another treatment option for RH. However, its efficacy is questioned by recent Symplicity HTN-3 trial. This article discusses the current prevalence and management strategy for RH.