Endovascular Treatment of Renal Artery Stenosis due to Fibromuscular Dysplasia - Is Stent Implantation Underused in this Circumstance?

Fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) is a nonatherosclerotic and noninflammatory arterial disease that commonly affects the renal and carotid arteries. The primary target in treating patients with renal artery FMD is the control of blood pressure in order to prevent end-organ damage, which can be caused by poorly controlled hypertension. Invasive endovascular treatment should be taken into consideration both when hypertension cannot be controlled with medication. According to current opinion, hypertension attributed to renal artery FMD is often successfully treated solely with percutaneous renal balloon angioplasty (PRBA), with no requirement for stent implantation under most circumstances. However, an FMD recurrence after PRBA occurs frequently in these patients.