• Melvin D Lobo, Paul A Sobotka, Alice Stanton, John R Cockcroft, Neil Sulke, Eamon Dolan, Markus van der Giet, Joachim Hoyer, Stephen S Furniss, John P Foran, Adam Witkowski, Andrzej Januszewicz, Danny Schoors, Konstantinos Tsioufis, Benno J Rensing, Benjamin Scott, G André Ng, Christian Ott, Roland E Schmieder, and ROX CONTROL HTN Investigators.
• William Harvey Research Institute, Barts NIHR Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK. Electronic address: m.d.lobo@qmul.ac.uk.
• Lancet. 2015 Apr 25; 385 (9978): 1634-41.

BackgroundHypertension contributes to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. We assessed the safety and efficacy of a central iliac arteriovenous anastomosis to alter the mechanical arterial properties and reduce blood pressure in patients with uncontrolled hypertension.MethodsWe enrolled patients in this open-label, multicentre, prospective, randomised, controlled trial between October, 2012, and April, 2014. Eligible patients had baseline office systolic blood pressure of 140 mm Hg or higher and average daytime ambulatory blood pressure of 135 mm Hg or higher systolic and 85 mm Hg or higher diastolic despite antihypertensive treatment. Patients were randomly allocated in a 1:1 ratio to undergo implantation of an arteriovenous coupler device plus current pharmaceutical treatment or to maintain current treatment alone (control). The primary endpoint was mean change from baseline in office and 24 h ambulatory systolic blood pressure at 6 months. Analysis was by modified intention to treat (all patients remaining in follow-up at 6 months). This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01642498.Findings83 (43%) of 195 patients screened were assigned arteriovenous coupler therapy (n=44) or normal care (n=39). Mean office systolic blood pressure reduced by 26·9 (SD 23·9) mm Hg in the arteriovenous coupler group (p<0·0001) and by 3·7 (21·2) mm Hg in the control group (p=0·31). Mean systolic 24 h ambulatory blood pressure reduced by 13·5 (18·8) mm Hg (p<0·0001) in arteriovenous coupler recipients and by 0·5 (15·8) mm Hg (p=0·86) in controls. Implantation of the arteriovenous coupler was associated with late ipsilateral venous stenosis in 12 (29%) of 42 patients and was treatable with venoplasty or stenting.InterpretationArteriovenous anastomosis was associated with significantly reduced blood pressure and hypertensive complications. This approach might be a useful adjunctive therapy for patients with uncontrolled hypertension.FundingROX Medical.Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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