Renal vascular hypertension. Surgery vs. dilation.

The blood pressure response to surgery or percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) was determined an average of 3 years after treatment. In atherosclerotic disease, 85% of patients benefited. Furthermore, the extremely low overall cure rate of 6% (4/67) suggests that renal artery stenosis due to atherosclerosis is rarely a sole cause of hypertension, but more likely is an atherosclerotic complication of essential hypertension that develops in patients who are cigarette smokers. In fibrodysplastic disease both treatments were likely to improve the blood pressure. However, surgery resulted in a 41% rate of loss of the operated kidney. The response to PTA or surgery is strongly influenced by the etiology of the lesion being treated.