Different strokes: Device uses electrical pulses to lower blood pressure

摘要

Chronic high blood pressure sufferers could benefit from an implant that sends electrical pulses to the brain, say doctors at Bristol University. A team working at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol have shown that the device, similar to a cardiac pacemaker, can provide a surgical alternative to blood-pressure drugs. They successfully used the deep-brain-stimulation technique, usually applied for mental illnesses and neurological conditions, on a 55-year-old man when drugs were unable to control his high blood pressure following a stroke.