Resistant Hypertension Center

The Resistant Hypertension Center focuses on treating patients who are on three or more blood pressure medications but still cannot achieve ideal blood pressure (at or under 130/80mmHg).

Primary Resistant Hypertension

Primary hypertension is when a patient’s blood pressure remains high despite treatment and there’s no identifiable cause. Sometimes primary hypertension can be treated with lifestyle changes and/or medication, but other times it may not respond completely to any of these therapies. There are evolving procedures to treat patients who can’t make it to their goal on lifestyle alone these may help prevent events in the future.

Secondary Resistant Hypertension

the hormones or blood vessels in the body. Common conditions that can lead to resistant hypertension are:

• Obstructive Sleep Apnea
• Chronic kidney disease
• Primary hyperaldosteronism
• Renal artery stenosis
• Fibromuscular dysplasia
• Cushing’s Syndrome/Disease
• Pheochromocytoma

If a patient has any of these conditions, our cardiologists at the Resistant Hypertension Center will coordinate care with your existing specialists or help make a referral to a specialist. We work closely with nephrologists, sleep medicine, endocrinologists, vascular surgeons, and other specialists to ensure a comprehensive approach to your care.

We can also order certain diagnostic testing to help identify underlying conditions that may be causing your blood pressure to run high.

Diagnostics & Testing

We may order diagnostic tests to identify your risk factors and any comorbid conditions. Some tests may help us understand your unique risk of developing heart disease or experiencing a cardiac event. In other cases, you may have another condition that is causing your blood pressure to rise, but it hasn’t been identified yet. If that is the case, we may also order diagnostic tests to evaluate for causes of your resistant hypertension.

Tests may include echocardiography, exercise testing, ankle-brachial index, or carotid doppler.

Virtual Care & Monitoring

When a patient gets started with the Resistant Hypertension Center, our specialists will meet with the patient regularly to adjust their medication and approach. We may also use virtual care or 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring to achieve the target BP range.

Care Coordination

We will work directly with your primary care physician and any specialists you may see. The goal of our program is to find the right therapies to bring your blood pressure under control while you continue to see your primary care and specialty care teams. Once your blood pressure is in the target range, you’ll have an annual check-up with the Resistant Hypertension Center to make sure everything is still on track.