Restoring autonomic balance: Future therapeutic targets

Our aim was to highlight the very recent and rapid expansion of a number of contemporary, pioneering and projected interventional approaches for resistant hypertension. Our discussions of each approach centre on a new model of the cardiovascular system that emphasises the importance of the sympathetic nervous system, its differential control and reflex activation. Four interventional therapeutic strategies are discussed including targeted sympathectomies and carotid body ablation. Harnessing endogenous homeostatic control systems looks promising as a means to correct autonomic balance. The challenge will be in deciding which interventional approach should be selected.