SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WXYZ) — Michigan is listed as one of the states with the highest levels of hypertension.
The states include Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maine, and Michigan.
Nearly 70% of Americans will have high blood pressure at some point in their lifetimes.
For five decades, doctors have been treating high blood pressure with pills. But now, a groundbreaking alternative procedure at Ascension Michigan that just got Food and Drug Administration approval is available for patients not seeing good results with medication or for those who cannot tolerate medications for hypertension. It may revolutionize treatment in the future.
7 Action News went to Hairshion Salon in Southfield to randomly check blood pressure.
We brought in a medical assistant from The Heights Urgent Care to get the real deal on the numbers.
Salon owner Rodney Howell says he never has a problem, but the reading told another story. It was slightly high.
Imagine walking around, feeling fine and suddenly, you drop and die from a heart attack.
“My father had heart disease and high blood pressure. He died at the age of 40 from a heart attack,” Lou Martin said.
Martin's family has a history of heart disease and high blood pressure but 50 years ago, no one knew.
“Just suddenly dropped one afternoon,” Martin said.
According to the Center for Economic and Social Research, more than 35% of adults in Michigan have high blood pressure.
“Hypertension affects probably 70 to 80 million Americans. It's very prevalent,” said Dr. Shukri David, the physician chair of the Heart & Vascular Center of Excellence.
That's why for more than 12 years now, David has been leading clinical trials along with 12 other centers in the U.S. on different procedures to treat people whose blood pressure cannot be controlled with medication.
“This is the first time we're actually able to treat hypertension with a catheter outside of pills,” David said.
It's called renal denervation. They use radio frequency ablation using hot burns. It destroys the nerves that connect the kidneys to the brain, and that regulates blood pressure.
“This treatment is not going to cure hypertension, but it will make it so that you might not need three medications, maybe two or you may not need them in maximum doses, maybe lower doses,” David said.
For Martin whose blood pressure could not be controlled with medication and was on his way to a fourth pill, this was a trial he wanted to take part in.
7 Action News anchor Carolyn Clifford asked him “At what point did he raise a red flag and say this is troublesome?”
“When my blood pressure was 165 over 93 on two meds,” Martin responded.
A year ago in March, Martin underwent renal denervation.
“After the procedure, I was amazed that my blood pressure was in the low-acceptable range on medication,” Martin said.
For some of the men at Hairshion Salon, the numbers we saw are a reason to remain vigilant.
David says hypertension is a silent killer. Even if it's mildly elevated, over time, it can cause organ damage, blindness, kidney failure and heart attacks.
Know your numbers. You can get your blood pressure checked for free at The Heights Urgent Care once a month or at your local drug store.
As for the renal denervation, Ascension Michigan is no. 2 in the country and one of the busiest and most experienced sites doing the procedure.
