PMID: 11912484Mar 26, 2002Paper

Diagnosis and treatment of atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis (ARAS)

Minerva urologica e nefrologica = The Italian journal of urology and nephrology
C C Geddes, A G Jardine

Abstract

Atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis (ARAS) is an increasingly common cause of secondary hypertension and progressive chronic renal failure. Recent studies provide valuable information about the pathophysiology, natural history, diagnosis and treatment of ARAS. The pathophysiology of ARAS is more complex than experimental models using clipped renal arteries because the renal artery narrowing is gradual, may be bilateral, may affect smaller intra-renal arteries and other co-existing nephropathies are often present. Patients with ARAS have high mortality due to associated co-morbidity and progression of renal failure may be less common than previously thought. Magnetic resonance arteriography offers great promise for diagnosing of ARAS as it is non-invasive and can provide data on kidney function. In patients with ARAS, the co-existence of atherosclerotic disease in other vascular beds means that aspirin, blood pressure reduction, advice to stop smoking and lipid lowering therapy are likely to be associated with reduced vascular events. The effect of these approaches on the progression of ARAS is unclear but likely to be beneficial. Re-vascularisation of occluded renal arteries is an attractive option for treatment of ARAS but d...Continue Reading

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