Papers of the Week

Resistant and uncontrolled hypertension prominently amplifies the risk of end-stage renal disease and fatal cardiovascular events. Therapeutic inertia, despite maximum tolerated anti-hypertensive medications, puts patients at high risk, thus non-pharmacologic therapies have been proposed. The ROX arteriovenous coupler (ROX, Medical Inc., San Clemente, CA, USA), initially developed for treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, exploits the biomechanical effects of diverting arterial blood into a low-resistance, high-compliance venous segment, thereby decreasing arterial vascular resistance and blood pressure (BP).