Can patients with significant renal artery stenosis who underwent renal angioplasty be monitored postprocedure in the general ward instead of the high dependency unit?

INTRODUCTION: Renal angioplasty has been increasingly used to treat significant renal artery stenosis (RAS). At the Tan Tock Seng Hospital (Singapore), renal angioplasty patients are routinely admitted to the high dependency unit (HDU) postprocedure for monitoring.
METHODS: The complications of the RAS patients were reviewed postangioplasty, and it was determined whether the patients could be monitored in the general ward (GW) instead of the HDU. Cases of patients with RAS of more than 50% who underwent angioplasty between January 1999 and September 2006 were reviewed retrospectively.
RESULTS: There were 35 patients with significant RAS who underwent angioplasty. Thirty were monitored in the HDU. Five were monitored in the GW because there were no HDU beds available. Patients in the GW were monitored every 30 min for 6 h, then every hour for 24 h. No immediate complications or deaths were recorded in the present series.
CONCLUSION: It may be safe and cost-effective to monitor patients with significant RAS postangioplasty in the GW.