At The Royal London Hospital, on 30 June 2016, the Barts Blood Pressure Clinic became the first hospital in the country to provide two NHS patients with the innovative Barostim Neo™ device that could transform and save the lives of people living with uncontrollable blood pressure.
Barostim Therapy™ is delivered using an implantable pulse generator that is placed under the skin in the chest, like a pacemaker, which is slightly larger than a two-pound coin, and connected to a lead, located next to the carotid artery in the neck while the patient is under anaesthetic in a placement procedure that lasts about an hour.
Dr Melvin Lobo is a Consultant Cardiovascular Physician and Director of the Barts Blood Pressure Clinic at Barts Health NHS Trust and Hon Senior Lecturer, NIHR Barts CV BRU, William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary University London. He explained: “If successful, the treatment could provide new hope as an alternative option for treating high blood pressure in the future – particularly when standard therapies have failed.
“My hope is that the treatment will lead to a dramatic reduction in the very dangerous risks these patients live with every day, and free them from the huge restrictions that arise from uncontrollable hypertension that often force them to stop working or can prevent them from caring for their children.”
“It’s important that the UK evaluates this innovative therapy in a cautious and proper manner, and that we continue to monitor patients’ outcomes to ensure that the therapy is both safe and highly effective. This is a truly exceptional day for Barts Health NHS Trust - we are taking a huge leap towards finding a way to treat this selected patient population which otherwise is currently without hope.”
On Friday 1 July, BBC London news spoke to Dr Melvin Lobo about the procedure and Claire Hawkes, one of the two patients to undergo Barotism.
Read more as Dr Melvin Lobo and Clare Hawke speak to the Mail Online about Barostim Therapy™