The team of professionals at Wexner Medical Center after performing the first renal denervation ultrasound procedure in central Ohio on their patient, Jimmy Strohmaier. Credit: Courtesy of Amy Colgan
For some, the COVID-19 pandemic might feel far removed from their current day-to-day lives. But others still grapple with long-term health ramifications.
After battling COVID-19, Jimmy Strohmaier was left with a long-term effect of high blood pressure that made routine activities a struggle. Having tried many medications to no avail, Jimmy saw a light — an ultrasound procedure offered at the Wexner Medical Center, which helped him reduce his blood pressure and regain hope.
Strohmaier, who is from Hilliard, Ohio, was the first patient in Central Ohio to receive an ultrasound renal denervation therapy procedure for his resistant hypertension Sept. 27 at the medical center.
“If a patient has resistant hypertension, it means they are still having high blood pressures, despite being on more than five blood pressure medications,” said Dr. Amy Yau, a nephrologist at Ohio State and certified hypertension specialist through the American Hypertension Specialist Certification Program.
Yau said the procedure — approved by the FDA in November 2023 — uses ultrasound energy to target and calm nerves around the renal arteries, which are located in the kidneys. This process helps reduce overactivity within the nervous system, which can cause high blood pressure, making it effective for patients with resistant hypertension.
“They’ll go in through your leg, get to the renal arteries, and they use an ultrasound machine and kind of blast the nerves to — I guess in layman’s terms — damage the nerves; so that way, the sympathetic nervous system is not acting on the renal arteries, where the kidneys actually help to regulate blood pressure,” Yau said. “That’s important because it reduces that feedback mechanism.”
Strohmaier’s high blood pressure — and his need for relief — began Jan. 7, 2022, when he was diagnosed with COVID-19 and consequently experienced side effects like migraines, fatigue and brain fog. One side effect, however, stood out from them all: hypertension, which affected his ability to be active and perform ordinary tasks such as watching TV and cooking, he said.
Strohmaier said his high blood pressure from COVID-19, which ranged from 150/100 to 160/110, was first treated with diet- and exercise-related measures advised by his primary care doctor. When his too-high blood pressure remained the same, he was referred to Yau to receive alternative care.
“She initially prescribed medications over the course of roughly the next two years — a variety of medications — to try and lower the pressure, control it, decrease it,” Strohmaier said. “We didn’t see any changes; if nothing else, [it] had continued to rise and sort of stay stationary.”
Initially thinking the medications would create a drastic change in his blood pressure, Strohmaier said he was worried when they didn’t achieve his desired results.
“When it didn’t produce anything after enough months of trial and error, really, it was frustrating,” Strohmaier said. “It was also a little intimidating to know that the blood pressure could continue to spike, and it could lead to other issues.”
In March 2024, Yau referred Strohmaier to Dr. Nkechinyere Ijioma, an interventional cardiologist at the Wexner Medical Center, to receive a consultation on the ultrasound renal denervation therapy procedure.
Though the procedure had been performed in European countries and other countries around the globe, it was still relatively new in the United States. Still, Strohmaier said he was open to the idea because his previous medications failed to produce the results he was looking for.
Yau said blood pressure medications can effectively control high blood pressure in the majority of patients. When Strohmaier’s blood pressure remained high, despite medication and lifestyle changes — including decreased salt intake, increased exercise and weight loss — the best option was to pursue renal denervation therapy, Yau said.
“There’s probably about less than 1% of people who have truly resistant high blood pressure — that medication does not control the blood pressure,” Yau said.
Sept. 27, Strohmaier said he underwent the outpatient procedure at the Wexner Medical Center, describing it as a “reset.” The procedure helped facilitate proper blood flow between his brain and the rest of his body, something that was not correctly correlating before.
“I checked into the hospital, they did all the necessary preparation for it, and then I was under, like, a mild sedative where I was still awake, but I was immune to some of the pain and the process that they were doing,” Strohmaier said.
Strohmaier said he wants others struggling with hypertension to know there is an alternative way to reduce high blood pressure other than just taking medications.
“I was optimistic and receptive to the idea of trying something different by going in and performing this procedure as an alternative, and lo and behold, it was successful, and it was the right call, and it worked,” Strohmaier said.
