## 3 Results  
A total of 54 patients with established RH were included in this study. Most patients were male (72.2%) and the mean age was 59.0 \(\pm\) 16.6 years. Consistent with previous studies of RH, the patients' body mass index was either in the upper range of normal or obese; the average BMI was 30.0 \(\pm\) 4.5 kg/m\({}^{2}\). On average, patients were taking 3.5 antihypertensive drugs and all patients maintained their baseline antihypertensive drug regimen during the entire study follow-up period to avoid biomarker bias. At baseline, the overall mean sitting BP was 175.6 \(\pm\) 23.3 mmHg systolic and 94.3 \(\pm\) 12.2 mmHg diastolic (Table 1). Compared to the baseline office systolic BP (SBP 175.6 \(\pm\) 23.3 mmHg), a significant reduction in SBP was observed at one month (SBP 157.7 \(\pm\) 20 mmHg; \(p<\) 0.001) and three months (SBP 157.2 \(\pm\) 24.1 mmHg; \(p=\) 0.01) after RSD (Figure 1). Diastolic blood pressure (DBP) recordings also showed a trend towards reduction (DBP 94.3 \(\pm\) 12.2 mmHg at baseline versus 89.8 \(\pm\) 14.3 mmHg at one month, \(p=\) 0.254, and 87.9 \(\pm\) 16.4 mmHg at three months, \(p=\) 0.084); however, they did not reach statistical significance. In a multifactorial analysis (BMI, serum creatinine, presence of diabetes mellitus Type 2 and serum LDL), diabetes and serum LDL levels revealed a statistical significance on postprocedural BP reduction. Consistent with a reduction in systolic \(BP\), a steady decrease in calculated LVM was observed during follow-up. At three months post intervention, this reduction reached the level of statistical significance (LVM 246.4 \(\pm\) 82.4 g at baseline, 216.7 \(\pm\) 60.6 g at one month, \(p\) = 0.163 versus baseline, 180.9 \(\pm\) 66.8 g at three months, \(p\) = 0.010 versus baseline; Figure 2A). These findings may indicate successful cardiac reverse remodeling. Since previous studies described elevated sST-2 to be associated with increased systolic BP and cardiac remodeling, we further evaluated sST-2 levels at baseline and during follow-up. High sST-2 levels were observed in the RSD population at baseline. Interestingly, similar to LVM alterations, sST-2 levels decreased after three months (6310.1 \(\pm\) 3246.0 pg/mL at \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline
**Characteristics** & \(\mathbf{n}\) & **\% or Mean \(\pm\) SD** \\ \hline Age (years) & 54 & 59.0 \(\pm\) 16.6 \\ \hline Height (cm) & 54 & 174.5 \(\pm\) 10.9 \\ \hline Weight (kg) & 54 & 90.9 \(\pm\) 17.2 \\ \hline BMI (kg/m\({}^{2}\)) & 54 & 30.0 \(\pm\) 4.5 \\ \hline Diabetes & 19 & 35.2\% \\ \hline Hypercholesterolemia & 32 & 59.3\% \\ \hline Serum creatinine (mg/dL) & 45 & 0.95 \(\pm\) 0.3 \\ \hline Systolic BP (mmHg) & 54 & 175.6 \(\pm\) 23.3 \\ \hline Diastolic BP (mmHg) & 54 & 94.3 \(\pm\) 12.2 \\ \hline Male sex & 39 & 72.2\% \\ \hline ACE inhibitor & 23 & 42.5\% \\ \hline AT-1 receptor blocker & 32 & 59.3\% \\ \hline Calcium antagonists & 24 & 44.4\% \\ \hline Diuretics/HCT & 44 & 81.5\% \\ \hline Betablockers & 43 & 79.6\% \\ \hline Alpha blockers & 11 & 20.4\% \\ \hline Aldosterone antagonists & 7 & 13\% \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Baseline characteristics, comorbidities, baseline BP and antihypertensive regime. Figure 1: Effects of renal sympathetic denervation on office BP measured after 3 min of rest at baseline and at 1 and 3 months’ follow-up. Differences measured by \(t\)-test. baseline versus 4703.8 \(\pm\) 1585.9 pg/mL at three months follow-up; \(p\) = 0.048), but not one month post-procedure (6310.1 \(\pm\) 3246.0 pg/mL at baseline versus 5201.8 \(\pm\) 2569.3 pg/mL at one month follow-up; \(p\) = 0.21; Figure 2B). In the correlation analysis with patients' characteristics, SST-2 did not show a correlation with age (r = 0.318, \(p\) = 0.067), BMI (r = \(-\)0.034, \(p\) = 0.891), creatinine levels (r = \(-\)0.097, 0.643), diabetes (r = 0.328, \(p\) = 0.058) and BNP levels (r = 0.118, \(p\) = 0.574). Only LDL levels significantly correlated with sST-2 (r = 0.389; \(p\) = 0.023).