Percutaneous transluminal renal angioplasty. A potentially effective treatment for preservation of renal function.

Percutaneous transluminal renal angioplasty (PTRA) was performed in a group of 12 patients with marked renal functional impairment, severe hypertension, and critical renovascular stenoses in a solitary functioning kidney (ten patients) or bilaterally (two patients). The procedure led to least partial dilation in 11 of the 13 stenoses acted on and stabilization or modest improvement in renal function in seven of the 11 patients in whom some technical success had been achieved. Moreover, the severity of the patients' hypertension appeared to be favorably affected following PTRA. Complications that were encountered included three episodes of nonoliguric acute renal failure, a thrombotic occlusion of a renal artery, a tear of the balloon segment of the catheter requiring femoral arteriotomy, and an episode of gastrointestinal tract bleeding. Percutaneous transluminal renal angioplasty may be an effective modality in the treatment of patients with severe renovascular stenosis, renal functional impairment, and hypertension.