Percutaneous transluminal dilatation: the treatment of choice for renal artery stenosis causing hypertension.

During the last 3 yr a large number of patients with renal artery stenosis have undergone attempted treatment of their stenosis by the technique termed percutaneous transluminal angioplasty or dilatation (PTD) using the balloon tipped catheter developed by Gruntiz. A number of publications have documented that this technique is reasonably safe and effective in renal artery lesions due to fibromuscular disease (FMD), atherosclerosis (AS), or prior surgery such as renal artery bypass or transplantation. Although initially many of the patients that were treated were felt to be poor surgical risks, many patients have now been treated who were excellent candidates for renal artery bypass. The cumulative experience argues that PTD should be the first treatment tried in any patient with significant renal artery stenosis causing hypertension. It should be noted that the cumulative experience is not based on any controlled trial and therefore may well be biased. Nevertheless, I will present this argument based on the published data and our own experience at Indiana University. This argument pertains to any patient with incomplete renal artery occlusion who has a functionally significant stenosis (determined by renal vein renin sampling) and who is a good surgical candidate. Those patients who are at high risk for major surgery will obviously be best treated by PTD or medical management. The argument has four major points: safety, effectiveness, cost analysis, and availability.