[Results and complications of balloon dilatation of renal artery stenosis in patients with renovascular hypertension].

During the years 1981 to 1987, 32 patients with renovascular hypertension due to renal artery stenosis were submitted to percutaneous transluminal renal angioplastic (PTRA) in four hospitals in Copenhagen. Nineteen of the interventions were technically successful and six of these patients (32%) no longer required medicine, eight (42%) were able to manage on reduced medication while the circumstances where five were concerned (26%) remained unchanged. Serious complications occurred in 16% and the mortality was 6%. The results of this treatment correspond to those reported elsewhere but the frequency of complications is high. It is concluded that the procedure should be centralized, possibly as a national function.