| Abstract: | Fifty-six patients with arterial hypertension (AH) and various vascular disorders were investigated by magnetic resonance (MR) tomography. All patients were also subjected to radiopaque aortography. Twenty-seven normal subjects were taken as controls. They showed good visual images of thoracic and abdominal aorta and vena cava inferior in all tomographic sections, yet the frontal section proved the best for vessel visualization as it showed the vessels at length. MR tomograms were similar in patients with essential hypertension, stage I-IIA and in normal subjects, while patients with more than 5-year essential hypertension, stage IIB-III, demonstrated a convoluted aorta (sagittal and frontal sections), with an S-shaped convolution in a number of cases; their aortic diameter was increased owing to a thicker vascular wall as well as a wider lumen. Patients with renovascular hypertension showed abnormal renal arteries featuring pre-stenotic dilatation and stenosed portions. Iliac arterial occlusions were clearly seen. Patients with wide-spread atherosclerosis and nonspecific aorto-arteritis showed a variety of thoracic or abdominal aortic aneurysms. |
