[Artery stenosis in renal transplantation (author's transl)].

Of 506 transplantations, stenosis of the artery supplying the graft was found in 60 patients (11,9%) three months to two years after they had undergone renal transplantation. The diagnosis was made by arteriography done because of refractory hypertension with or without impaired renal function in 58 patients and as a routine investigation in 2 normotensive patients. The stenosis was corrected surgically in 30 patients, with resultant lasting relief of hypertension in 17 patients and improvement of renal function in 9 out of 12 patients with impaired renal function. Different types of stenosis were recognized: stenosis of the recipient artery, stenosis of the suture line, stenosis of the donor renal artery (the most frequent) and multiple forms. There is no single cause of stenosis: atheroma of the recipient vessels, faulty suture technique, hemodynamic disturbances, trauma, immune mechanism. This complication of renal transplantation may be more frequent than is thought usually; therefore, routine renal arteriography should be performed at repeated intervals in all transplanted patients.