Figure 141

Interrelation among Renal-Artery Stenosis, Hypertension, and Chronic Renal Failure.

Renal-artery stenosis may occur alone(isolated anatomical renal-artery stenosis) or in combination with hypertension(reonvascular or essential hypertension), renal insufficiency(ischemic nephropathy), or both. Patients with renal-artery stenosis alone may benefit from revascularization to prevent loss of renal mass. In patients with renal-artery stenosis and hypertension, hypertension is seldom cured by revascularization,except in those with fibromuscular dysplasia. In patients with renal-artery stenosis and chronic renal failure, renal revascularization may improve or stabilize renal function.