An interventional cardiologist at HCA Florida Fort Walton-Destin Hospital on Wednesday performed the first renal denervation procedure in the tri-county area, a minimally invasive treatment designed to help patients whose high blood pressure has not responded to medication.
Dr. John Dudley, the only physician in Okaloosa, Walton and Santa Rosa counties offering the procedure, said renal denervation targets the sympathetic nervous system around the renal arteries to lower blood pressure. The procedure takes about 20 to 30 minutes, requires only a small incision in the leg and is closed with a single stitch. Patients go home the same day.
- “We’re able to do a procedure, not leave anything behind, and people are able to go home the same day,” Dudley said. “And one of my favorite things most is that we’re able to stop medications that they’ve been taking probably most of their lives.”
Joanna Harrell, the first patient to receive the treatment locally, said she had struggled with high blood pressure for years. What started as a single medication grew to six blood pressure prescriptions, none of which were keeping her numbers under control, she said.
Her condition had led to a heart attack, multiple stents and a spinal stroke, Harrell said. She recalled being transferred from a small hospital in Bonifay to Panama City before eventually making it to Fort Walton Beach, where Dudley had been treating her for about three years.
“I’m tired all the time, can’t breathe, have a difficult time walking because of the breathing,” Harrell said of the symptoms that first brought her to Dudley.
When Dudley told her about the procedure and the possibility of coming off all her medications, Harrell said her response was immediate.
- “I said, ‘Let’s do it,'” she said.
Harrell said she is looking forward to a life without daily medication and frequent doctor visits. She said she wants to be healthy enough to watch her 12-year-old daughter, a competitive cheerleader, grow up.
“I would like to live long enough to see her graduate from school,” Harrell said. “And see her fulfill her dreams.”
An estimated 130,000 adults across the three counties are living with high blood pressure, with nearly one in three adults affected, according to the hospital.
“High blood pressure is often called the ‘silent killer’ because patients may feel perfectly fine while serious damage is occurring to their heart, brain and kidneys,” Dudley said. “Renal denervation gives us another tool to help patients whose blood pressure has remained difficult to control despite doing all the right things.”
Dudley said he is focused on making advanced cardiovascular procedures available locally rather than requiring patients to travel to larger cities.
“What excites me most is being able to bring procedures like this from other major cities to our area of Northwest Florida,” he said. “So for the first time we’ve got a center where people can rely on getting quality top-notch care.”
