Developing a Computational Model of Renal Nerves and Surgical System for Laparoscopic Renal Denervation

The sympathetic nervous system was known to play an important role in resistant hypertension. Surgical sympathectomy for renal sympathetic nerve removal were performed since the 1930s. Although effective, it had many serious side effects and complications due to non-selective property. Recently, catheter based RDN system using radiofrequency (RF) ablation was developed and considered promising, however, it failed in sham controlled trial. Therefore, there are needs for safe and effective RDN strategies considering the anatomical structure of the renal arteries and sympathetic nerves. In this paper, we propose a novel surgical instruments for laparoscopic renal denervation (RDN) to treat of resistant hypertension through a 3D realistic model using nephrectomy tissues. Laparoscopic RDN is a new surgical approach to remove renal sympathetic nerves.