Diagnostic value of urography in the study of arterial hypertension

In spite of the widespread use of intravenous urography and its extensive employment in the study of hypertension, there is still no unanimity of views as to its application in such pathology. 147 urographies belonging to 330 hypertense patients admitted to the Bari Medical Pathology Department between 1-1-1975 and 30-9-1977 have therefore been examined so as to assess its diagnostic value. Thereafter, the percentage of abnormalities found with urography were evaluated and compared with those in the population at large. Results stress on the one hand the higher incidence of renal ptosis and poly-cystic kidneys in the hypertense, and also highlight the possibility of revealing clinically silent diseases with this technique; on the other hand, many urographies (more than 50%) were useless and it is not always possible to diagnose certainly the presence of stenosis of the renal artery owing to the presence of false positives and negatives.