Transvascular Pacing of Aorticorenal Ganglia Provides a Testable Procedural Endpoint for Renal Artery Denervation

This study sought to develop a method to assess renal sympathetic nerve function through localization and pacing of aorticorenal ganglia (ARG). Transcatheter renal denervation procedures often fail to produce complete renal denervation because of the lack of a physiological procedural endpoint. High-frequency pacing was performed in the inferior vena cava and aorta in sheep (n = 19) to identify ARG pace-capture sites. Group A (n = 5) underwent injection at the ARG pace-capture site for histological verification, group B (n = 6) underwent unilateral irrigated radiofrequency ablation of ARG pace-capture sites and assessment of renal innervation at 1 week post-procedure; and group C (n = 8) underwent ARG pacing before and 2 to 3 weeks after unilateral microwave renal denervation. ARG pace-capture responses were observed at paired discrete sites above the ipsilateral renal artery eliciting a change in mean arterial blood pressure of 22.2 (interquartile range [IQR]: 15.5 to 34.3 mm Hg; p < 0.001) with concurrent ipsilateral renal arterial vasoconstriction, change in main renal artery diameter of −0.42 mm (IQR: −0.64 to −0.24 mm; p < 0.0001), and without consistent contralateral renal vasoconstriction. Sympathetic ganglionic tissue was observed at ARG pace-capture sites, and ganglion ablation led to significant ipsilateral renal denervation. Circumferential renal denervation resulted in immediate and sustained abolition of ARP pacing-induced renal vasoconstriction and significant ipsilateral renal denervation. Transvascular ARG pace-capture is feasible and recognized by concurrent hypertensive and ipsilateral renal arterial vasoconstrictive responses. Abolition of ARG pacing-induced vasoconstriction may indicate successful renal sympathetic denervation and serve as a physiological procedural endpoint to guide transcatheter renal denervation.