Spike rate of multi-unit muscle sympathetic nerve fibers after catheter-based renal nerve ablation

• We assessed MSNA raw and integrated signals after renal nerve ablation.
• Substantial MSNA reduction was not evident after the intervention.
• Changes in MSNA and blood pressure after renal nerve ablation were not correlated.
• Profound sympathetic inhibition is not a typical response after renal nerve ablation.

Patients with treatment-resistant arterial hypertension exhibited profound reductions in single sympathetic vasoconstrictor fiber firing rates after renal nerve ablation. In contrast, integrated multi-unit muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) changed little or not at all. We hypothesized that conventional MSNA analysis may have missed single fiber discharges, thus, obscuring sympathetic inhibition after renal denervation. We studied patients with difficult-to-control arterial hypertension (age 45–74 years) before, 6 (n = 11), and 12 months (n = 8) after renal nerve ablation. Electrocardiogram, respiration, brachial, and finger arterial blood pressure (BP), as well as the MSNA and raw MSNA signals were analyzed. We detected MSNA action-potential spikes using 2 stage kurtosis wavelet denoising techniques to assess mean, median, and maximum spike rates for each beat-to-beat interval. Supine heart rate and systolic BP did not change at 6 (ΔHR: −2 ± 3 bpm; ΔSBP: 2 ± 9 mm Hg) or at 12 months (ΔHR: −1 ± 3 mm Hg, ΔSBP: −1 ± 9 mm Hg) after renal nerve ablation. Mean burst frequency and mean spike frequency at baseline were 34 ± 3 bursts per minute and 8 ± 1 spikes per second. Both measurements did not change at 6 months (−1.4 ± 3.6 bursts/minute; −0.6 ± 1.4 spikes/second) or at 12 months (−2.5 ± 4.0 bursts/minute; −2.0 ± 1.6 spikes/second) after renal nerve ablation. After renal nerve ablation, BP decreased in 3 of 11 patients. BP and MSNA spike frequency changes were not correlated (slope = −0.06; P = .369). Spike rate analysis of multi-unit MSNA neurograms further suggests that profound sympathetic inhibition is not a consistent finding after renal nerve ablation.