Sammanfattning
Background: Hypertension affects about 25 % of the adult population, and a small proportion, up
to 10 %, develop treatment resistant hypertension. Endovascular renal artery denervation (RDN) is a
new experimental treatment tested in research, both nationally and internationally. Conscious
sedation and analgesia is recommended.
Objective: The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a research based nurse administered
sedation procedure for this new treatment.
Method: The project is part of a prospective intervention study assessing the effects of the RDN
treatment. A total of 25 patients were included. Data was collected using a questionnaire developed
specifically for this study, including assessment of pain, applying a numeric rating scale with
response options from 0 to 10 (NRS 11).
Results: During the treatment, lasting from 50-90 minutes, the patients received on an average, 22
mg of morphine and 1.4 mg of midazolam. The proportion of the total morphine dose administered
before the RDN started, varied between 43-98 %. The general perioperative pain was on an average
3, 2 and the worst pain during the procedure was 6, 0 on the NRS 11. 96 % of the participants reported
that the perioperative pain was less than or as expected.
Conclusion: This study demonstrates that RDN treatment can be performed safely at the cardiac
laboratory without an anaesthesiologist being present. Well informed patients as well as qualified
and well trained nurses are a prerequisite for good results and satisfied patients.