New approach to lowering blood pressure

  

May 29, 2012 (WLS) -- Despite an arsenal of drugs, millions of people in the U.S. can't get their blood pressure down to safe levels. So scientists are testing a dramatically different approach.

Doctors say hypertension is underrated because people who have it don't look or feel sick until a lot of damage has been done.

In some hard to treat cases, the nerves which help regulate blood pressure stay switched on when they shouldn't be. Today's medications can't address that , so doctors are examining a invasive technique.

The hope is that destroying a small number of those nerves could calm an overactive system, relaxing arteries, and lowering blood pressure.

About 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. have high blood pressure.

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