Background: Renal artery stenosis is one of the most frequent causes of secondary hypertension. Appropriate methods for screening, diagnosis and therapy are currently under debate.
Objectives: To evaluate and recommend methods for screening and diagnosing renal artery stenosis, and to assess the clinical outcomes of renal artery stenting.
Methods: A total of 450 patients undergoing non-emergent coronary angiography fulfilled the selection criteria for selective renal arteriography; those with severe (luminal narrowing ≥ 70%) renal artery stenosis underwent percutaneous transluminal renal angioplasty with renal artery stenting.
Results: Of 166 patients (36.9%) with renal artery stenosis, 41 (9.1%) had severe stenosis that required renal artery stenting, and 83% had ostial renal stenosis. The primary success rate was 100% and there were no complications. During the follow-up period, two patients required a second PTRA. After stent deployment, significant reductions were observed in systolic and diastolic pressures (P < 0.001 and P = 0.01, respectively) and in the number of antihypertensive drugs used by the patients (P < 0.001). These reductions were sustained during follow-up. Hypertension was cured (systolic blood pressure < 130 mmHg) in 9 (21.4%) and improved in 27 (64.3%) patients. Plasma creatinine did not change significantly.
Conclusions: Selective renal angiography is an effective diagnostic tool for identifying symptomatic cases of renal artery stenosis in patients undergoing coronary angiography. Our finding of a high success rate and low complication rate supports the use of primary renal artery stenting in symptomatic patients with renal artery stenosis.