International Circulation: Renal denervation is for resistant hypertension. How important is the sympathetic nervous system especially for resistant hypertension?
　　Dr Schmieder: We have very good data that in hypertension and in particular in resistant hypertension， we have increased sympathetic activity. The overall sympathetic activity level is augmented in particular to the heart and the kidneys.
　　International Circulation: And it is more important for resistant hypertension?
　　Dr Schmieder: There is no comparison between mild hypertension， for example， and resistant hypertension. This applies across the whole progression of hypertensive disease and not only for blood pressure but also for organ damage. We also have an effect of the sympathetic nervous system on organ damage.
　　International Circulation: One of the reasons why we are excited about renal denervation is that it appears to be a technique that works in resistant hypertension. One of the hypotheses being raised is that maybe the sympathetic nervous system has a more important role in resistant hypertension as opposed to treatable hypertension.
　　Dr Schmieder: This is a question that cannot be adequately answered at this time. What we know is that when we apply renal denervation to patients with resistant hypertension we have a drop in blood pressure and we have a fall in the overall activity of the sympathetic nervous system. To sort out which are the major determinants of these two has not yet been done and is a matter of ongoing study.
　　《国际循环》：肾脏去神经术是治疗顽固性高血压的一种方法。在顽固性高血压中交感神经系统有何重要作用？
　　Dr Schmieder：有很多研究结果证实高血压特别是顽固性高血压的情况下交感神经活性是增加的。
　　《国际循环》：交感神经活性对顽固性高血压更重要是吗？
　　Dr Schmieder：没有研究对轻度高血压和顽固性高血压进行对比。这一观点适用于高血压疾病的整个进展过程，并且不光适用于血压还适用于靶器官损害。交感神经系统对靶器官损害也有重要作用。体交感神经活性水平在心脏和肾脏中更高。
　　《国际循环》：我们推荐肾脏去神经术的一个原因是这种手术似乎对顽固性高血压很有效。对其机制的假设之一认为可能是交感神经系统在顽固性高血压中的作用比在可治疗性高血压中的作用更大。
　　Dr Schmieder：这个问题目前还不能完全如此解释。我们目前已知的是当我们为顽固性高血压患者进行肾脏去神经术后患者的血压确实会降低，并且患者的交感神经系统整体活性也降低。目前还没有研究来弄清引起这两种结果的主要原因，这也是以后的研究需要探索的领域。