Best Doctors 2010: An alternative to blood pressure medications

Some 7 million U.S. residents suffer from high blood pressure that can require multiple medications to control. But Dr. John Blebea has found that stimulating sensors in the neck’s carotid arteries with an implanted device can trigger the brain to expand the artery walls and lower blood pressure. Blebea likens it to a pacemaker for hypertension. “We’ve seen very dramatic drops in blood pressure in people that have, for many years, had resistant blood pressure that could not be reduced with any number of drugs,” says Blebea, chief of the division of vascular surgery and endovascular therapy and the director of the vascular center at University Hospitals.