[Undersirable pharmaco-angiographic effects of adrenaline in malignant renal tumours (author's transl)].

The authors have twice observed undesirable effects of adrenaline during the demonstration of malignant renal tumours. Following adrenaline there was less flow of contrast medium into the tumour vessels than during angiography without the drug. In their opinion, this is due to the fact that constriction of the inter-lobar arteries occludes the vessels supplying the tumour, and that in some cases the new-formed vessels react strongly to adrenaline. In a third case, the tumour vessels reacted much more strikingly to adrenaline than would have been expected from previous experience. They therefore doubt whether pharmaco-angiography with adrenaline is always indicated for demonstrating malignant renal tumours; adrenaline may be expected to produce a positive result only in these cases in which there is a central origin of the artery supplying the tumour. They therefore suggest a change to some other, more suitable drug.