Introduction: hypertension ( HT) is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases in the world, and affects an estimated 77.9 million Americans over 20 years old, of which 78% were aware of their diagnosis, 68 % used antihypertensive medication , but only 64% of the treated patients were controlled. Methods: a systematic search of the scientific literature on the basis of PUBMED , SCIELO and EMBASE data of primary and secondary items with a defined strategy limited to Spanish and English was performed using various combinations of free terms and Mesh type that included: resistant hypertension, secondary high blood pressure, pseudo-resistance and renal sympathetic denervation. Results: resistant hypertension is defined as that which remains outside goals, > 140/90 mmHg in the general population after the use of three antihypertensive agents of different classes at optimal doses being one of them a diuretic. Patients who despite being controlled required the use of four or more drugs were also included. The rate of resistant hypertension has increased in recent years along with obesity and diabetes. The phenomenon is related to secondary causes, pseudo-resistance and sympathetic hyperactivity. Search and control of these factors together with the optimization of