Deep brain stimulator can help decrease high blood pressure in patients who do not respond to drugs, according to a new study conducted by the team from the University of Bristol and Frenchay Hospital.
Deep brain stimulator, which is similar to a cardiac pacemaker, works by sending electrical pulses to the brain.
For the study, researchers enrolled a heart stroke patient with high blood pressure and implanted deep brain stimulator in the periaqueductal-periventricular grey region of the brain, which plays a role regulating pain.
The study results revealed that the deep brain stimulator decreased the blood pressure, following which the patient was able to stop taking the blood pressure drugs.
Further testing showed that turning off the stimulator led to an increase of an average of 18/5 mmHg in blood pressure, and when the stimulator was switched on, the blood pressure decreased by an average of 32/12 mmHg.
Study author Nikunj K Patel said that more research is needed to confirm these results in larger numbers of people, but this suggests that stimulation can produce a large, sustained lowering of blood pressure.