Effect of Renal-Artery Stenting on Progression of Renovascular Renal Failure

Findings 33 t ransluminal stents w ere placed in 32 pat ients w ith atherosc lerot ic renovascular disease. Immediat e patenc y w as achieved in al l c ases; t he ang iog raphic restenosis rate at 6 months w as 12% ( n=24) . One pat ient died aft er a procedure-relat ed haemorrhage. Median diastol ic blood pressure w as significantly lower after stenting than before (95 [ IQR 86–103] vs 87 [ 81–90] mm Hg ; p>0·01) but t he requirement for antihypertensive drugs was unchanged. Renal function improved or stabilised in 22 (69%) of the 32 patients. Progression of renal failure was significantly slowed after the procedure; the mean (SE) of the slopes of reciprocal serum creatinine values was 4·34 (0·85) L mol 1 day 1 before stent placement, and 0·55 (1·0) L mol 1 day 1 after stent placement (p<0·01, two-sample t test).