High blood pressure is, as of now, a chronic condition, but things might just change very soon as has been speculated by British medical scientists who recently demonstrated a breakthrough new surgery that might end up effectively curing "persistent high blood pressure". The procedure is under an hour long.

Described as much straightforward and cost effective, the operation can cut the risk of a major heart attack or stroke induced by high BP in patients who have stopped responding to medication.

The doctors, however, have been quick to assert that there is no substitute for eating right and exercising, but the operation could still be a boon in a country where about 10 out of the 15 million people suffering from hypertension do not respond to drugs or cannot tolerate them.

Under the new method, christened renal sympathetic-nerve ablation, doctors place small burns in the nerve responsible for high blood pressure in some patients, which ends up disrupting signals from the brain which tell the kidneys to keep the blood pressure raised.

"This is the most exciting development in hypertension since the advent of anti-hypertensive medication 50 years ago. It is hard to forecast the limitations and it could eventually be compared to medication", said Mel Lobo, a doctor and specialist in clinical hypertension with Britain's National Health Service.