Medicine Grand Rounds, Alan Hinderliter and Rick Stouffer “Renal Denervation in the Treatment of Hypertension”

Drs. Hinderliter and Stouffer will discuss treatments for resistant hypertension with a focus on renal denervation, a novel device-based therapy. This minimally invasive procedure employs a catheter that emits a radio frequency (RF) energy across multiple electrodes. The RF energy is delivered to a renal artery via standard femoral artery access. A series of 1-minute ablations are delivered along each renal artery to disrupt the nerves. This procedure does not involve a permanent implant.

Dr. Hinderliter’s principal clinical interests are hypertension and echocardiography. He is a hypertension specialist and sees patients with high blood pressure that is difficult to control in the multidisciplinary UNC Hypertension Clinic. Dr. Hinderliter serves as the director of the UNC Hospitals echocardiography laboratory and provides imaging support to the structural heart disease program. He also works closely with the kidney transplant program in evaluating risk of cardiovascular events in patients who are considering a transplant. His research has focused on the effects of exercise, diet, and weight loss on high blood pressure, and on novel therapies for resistant hypertension.

Dr. Stouffer is an active clinician with a focus on smooth muscle cell growth regulation. He also has an interest in new treatments for hypertension, with his work being cited in multiple medical publications. His study on survival rates for in-hospital heart attacks was recently featured in The Wall Street Journal. With a strong research emphasis on advanced interventional cardiology treatments and procedures, Dr. Stouffer also studies coronary and peripheral interventions. He has also focused additional research on hemodynamics, valvular heart disease, coronary artery disease, renal artery stenosis, acute coronary syndromes, and stents.