The MobiusHD implant, developed by Vascular Dynamics, was awarded a CE mark last week to allow its introduction in Europe. This device, which is implanted into the carotid sinus during a minimally-invasive procedure, is intended to help patients with drug-resistant hypertension by encouraging the body’s natural mechanisms to regulate blood pressure.
The carotid sinus is part of the carotid artery where baroreceptors, the sensory neurons that signal the brain about changes in blood pressure, are located. When the wall of the carotid sinus is stretched by hypertension the baroreceptors signal to the brain to bring the blood pressure back to its normal level by changing the heart rate and other sympathetic nerve activity. However, in a patient with chronic hypertension, what the brain considers “normal blood pressure” will be reset to a higher level, leaving the patient in a constant state of high blood pressure.
A study published in journal Hypertension demonstrated that when the baroreceptors are activated in a pulsated manner rather than by a static, constant signal, the increase in the blood pressure set point is lessened and sometimes even prevented. With this in mind, the MobiusHD device was designed to stretch the blood vessel during the diastolic phase but then remove any strain on the wall during the systolic phase. In this way, the MobiusHD activates the brain to fight against hypertension without decreasing its sensitivity to these higher blood pressure levels.
Vascular Dynamics is continuing to conduct clinical trials with this device in the US and Europe.
Source: Vascular Dynamics…