Renal artery stenosis in patients with peripheral vascular disease and its correlation to hypertension. A retrospective study.

To estimate the frequency of renal artery stenosis, and to detect the correlation between renal artery stenosis and hypertension, 450 consecutive patients with peripheral vascular disease (PVD) were selected. All subjects had undergone aorto-femoral conventional angiography. For a possible association with renal artery stenosis, risk factors, clinical and angiographical variables were evaluated e.g.: age, sex, diabetes mellitus, smoking habits, use of antihypertensive drugs, serum creatinine, serum cholesterol, ECG pathology, side of the renal artery lesion, bilateral stenoses, post-stenotic dilatation, number of renal arteries, aortic atherosclerosis, size of the kidneys and angiography induced renal dysfunction. Renal artery stenosis (RAS) was found in 49.1%, 117 patients had a moderate and 104 had a severe stenosis. Of the 221 patients with a renal artery lesion, 44 were normotensive, 177 hypertensive. Hypertension was significantly correlated to RAS. An association was also found for age over 70 years, smoking and pathologic ECG. It is concluded that renal artery stenosis is very common in a population with peripheral vascular disease, and the results achieved from this study makes it worthwhile to identify possible functional markers in a prospective study.