Introduction

Refractory systemic arterial hypertension is the blood pressure above the appropriate goal despite the use of three or more antihypertensive drugs, one of which is a diuretic; renal denervation by radiofrequency ablation, is a treatment for this condition, which is effective and safe. We consider that denervation decreases the tone of the autonomic nervous system at the renal level (renin angiotensin aldosterone axis), so that the result will be a decrease in blood pressure without affecting the variability of the heart rate.

Objective

To determine if there is a change in the variability of heart rate in patients with refractory systemic arterial hypertension who are treated by radiofrequency renal denervation with catheter.

Material and methods

Observational, descriptive and analytical study of patients with refractory systemic arterial hypertension who were treated by radiofrequency renal ablation with catheter. The variability of the heart rate in the temporal and frequency domain was measured before and two months after the procedure. The statistical analysis of results was by Student’s t-test for related samples.

Results

Nine patients were eligible, only six patients with refractory systemic arterial hypertension treated by radiofrequency renal ablation were included, in the domain temporal domain for the standard deviation of the NN intervals (SDNN), a statistically non-significant increase was observed (7 ms, p = 0.58).

Conclusion

In the six patients with refractory systemic arterial hypertension treated by radiofrequency renal ablation, it was observed two months after the procedure, that the variability of the heart rate in the time domain for the standard deviation of the NN intervals (SDNN), it increased 7 ms, being statistically non-significant (p = 0.58).