| Abstract: | Two hundred and thirteen patients with hypertension and renal artery stenosis were treated with percutaneous transluminal renal angioplasty (PTRA). The angiographic appearance was typical of atherosclerosis in 134 patients and of fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) in 52 patients, and could not reliably be classified in one of these groups in 27. In these patients 272 renal artery stenoses were treated. In 81% of these patients the PTRA was technically successful. The antihypertensive result in this group of 210 patients was positive (cure or improvement) in 80%. The life-table results after 5 years show cure or improvement in the atherosclerotic group (n = 35) in 80.27%, in the FMD group (n = 20) in 88.83% and in the unclassified group (n = 10) in 74.27%. One patient died from a mesenteric thrombosis and one from a myocardial infarction which both occurred within a few days after PTRA. Accordingly, the mortality was less than 1%. In conclusion: PTRA appears to be a good treatment of renovascular hypertension caused by atherosclerosis or FMD, with good long-term antihypertensive effects. |
