Follow up study of 70 patients with renal artery stenosis treated by percutaneous transluminal dilatation.

Between April 1978 and April 1981, 70 patients with hypertension and renal artery stenosis were treated by percutaneous transluminal arterial dilatation. Selection of the patients was based solely on arteriographic criteria. Arteriography after dilatation showed considerable widening of the stenosed area in all patients. In 65 patients the effect of treatment on the blood pressure was assessed during follow up periods of one to four years. In 14 of these patients the hypertension was cured, in 29 it was improved, and in 22 there was no change. Patients with fibromuscular lesions benefited distinctly more than did those with atheromatous stenosis, only one of the 21 patients with fibromuscular lesions showing no change as compared with 21 of the 44 patients with atheromatous lesions. The only serious complication encountered was microcholesterol emboli, which developed in two patients with severe atheromatous lesions of the aorta. In the atheromatous group age and overall renal function had no influence on the blood pressure response. In the subgroup of patients with a unilateral lesion the renal vein renin ratios and asymmetrical curves obtained by renography had only a very limited predictive value. In experienced hands percutaneous transluminal arterial dilatation is relatively safe, and this study suggests that it should be attempted in all patients with renal artery stenosis. Only in patients with severe atheromatosis of the aorta should the risk associated with the catheterisation be weighed against the 50% or so chance of benefit from the procedure.