Ultrasound therapy could treat a rare lung condition that raises blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs and heart and can lead to heart failure.
The condition, called pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), is caused in part by inflammation, which can thicken and constrict blood vessels. Previous research in people without underlying health conditions demonstrated stimulating a nerve in the spleen with ultrasound waves could .
at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research in New York and his colleagues used ultrasound therapy to stimulate this nerve in nine rats with symptoms of PAH. After two weeks of daily treatment, blood pressure in the rats鈥� affected arteries was, on average, 30 per cent lower than that of a separate group of seven rodents, which received a sham procedure.
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Rats undergoing ultrasound therapy also showed significantly less inflammation, along with improvements in heart health and thinner artery walls. The benefits persisted for at least two weeks after treatment.
These findings suggest ultrasound stimulation could treat PAH, provided future trials in people yield similar results, says at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. Individuals with this condition must typically take drugs that dilate blood vessels, says Zanos, and in some people they don鈥檛 have any effect.
鈥淚n several people, those drugs cause side effects,鈥� says Zanos. 鈥淎nd in everyone with PAH, those drugs don鈥檛 change their survival in the end.鈥� The finding offers hope of additional treatment options. It also suggests ultrasound therapy could treat other forms of high blood pressure linked to inflammation, says Zanos.
But it remains unclear how exactly people would receive this treatment. 鈥淗ow do you administer this treatment on a daily or weekly basis?鈥� he says. 鈥淲ould you need to have an ultrasound machine at home? Is that practical?鈥�
Circulation Research
