Renal function in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm. Comparison with hypertensive patients

AIMS: Renal dysfunction occurs occasionally after the repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), and preoperative renal function is considered as one of the potential causes. The present study was designed to evaluate and compare renal function and risk factors of AAA patients with those of hypertensive patients. METHODS: We prospectively examined 95 patients with AAA and 72 patients with essential hypertension (HT) without other cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Renal function, urinary albumin excretion (UAE) and renal scintigraphy were compared. Kidney size was calculated using ultrasonography. RESULTS: Serum creatinine and creatinine clearance in AAA patients was worse than in HT patients. Smoking status was more apparent in AAA patients. Renal artery stenosis occurred in 8 patients with AAA. Renal scintigraphy showed normal function in 19%, hypofunction in 69% and severe dysfunction in 12% of the AAA patients, and normal function in 42% and hypofunction in 58% of the HT patients (p < 0.0001). Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that renal function was related to age, UAE, CVD, smoking status and kidney size for all patients, UAE, CVD, smoking status and kidney size for AAA patients, and age and kidney size for HT patients. CONCLUSION: Renal function of AAA patients was worse than HT patients without other CVD. The risk factors for renal dysfunction were different between AAA and HT patients. These preoperative conditions may relate to the postoperative renal dysfunction seen in AAA patients.