Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty of renal transplant artery stenosis in patients with rejection nephropathy.

A total of 13 procedures of percutaneous transluminal angioplasty were performed in 11 kidney graft recipients with renal transplant artery stenosis. Nine procedures were technically successful in eight patients (one redilatation was necessary because of restenosis). Graft biopsy confirmed rejection nephropathy in all cases. The outcome could not be evaluated in one patient who died of a concomitant disease shortly after angioplasty. The remaining seven patients (eight percutaneous transluminal angioplasties) showed improvement in hypertension in 63% and in glomerular filtration rate in 50% of procedures, persisting for 6-13 months. A single major complication encountered was a loss of graft related to unsuccessful percutaneous transluminal angioplasty. The results suggest that percutaneous transluminal angioplasty may bring prolonged increase in effective renal plasma flow and glomerular filtration rate even in patients experiencing rejection nephropathy.