Two weeks later Pareso came in for his check-up, and doctors recorded lower readings. The sutures in his neck here barely visible and Pareso said he was feeling fine: "My hope is to eventually get off the meds and get my energy back. After taking Catapres everyday, I would start dozing off. I'm not sleepy now."

Stimulating the baroreceptors to lower blood pressure is not a new idea, but early attempts at carotid nerve stimulation were bulky and the devices were crude. The most recent device was more easily implanted and the surgery was conducted without incident, Dr. Connolly said.


The FDA-approved device used in this study is the Rheos System made by CVRx, a private, Minneapolis-based company that develops proprietary active implantable technology for the treatment of hypertension. Other centers participating in the trial include Washington University, Boston University Medical Center, University of Rochester and Hackensack University Medical Center.

For more information about the study, or to participate, please visit: http://www.bloodpressuretrial.com/index.html or call 1(888) 8BP-RISK.

Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, pre-clinical and clinical research, in medical and health sciences education, and in patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, dentists, and nurses at the College of Physicians & Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Established in 1767, Columbia's College of Physicians & Surgeons was the first institution in the country to grant the M.D. degree and is among the most selective medical schools in the country. Columbia University Medical Center is home to the largest medical research enterprise in New York City and state and one of the largest in the United States. For more information, please visit www.cumc.columbia.edu.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital -- based in New York City -- is the nation's largest not-for-profit, non-sectarian hospital, with 2,242 beds. It provides state-of-the-art inpatient, ambulatory and preventive care in all areas of medicine at five major centers: NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Allen Pavilion and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division. One of the largest and most comprehensive health care institutions in the world, the Hospital is committed to excellence in patient care, research, education and community service. It ranks sixth in U.S.News & World Report's guide to "America's Best Hospitals," ranks first on New York magazine's "Best Hospitals" survey, has the greatest number of physicians listed in New York magazine's "Best Doctors" issue, and is included among Solucient's top 15 major teaching hospitals.

The Hospital is ranked with among the lowest mortality rates for heart attack and heart failure in the country, according to a 2007 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) report card. The Hospital has academic affiliations with two of the nation's leading medical colleges: Weill Cornell Medical College and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. For more information, visit www.nyp.org.

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