Relationship between renal size and hypertension in patients with chronic renal failure

The aim of this study was to compare renal size, shape and volume in hypertensive and nonhypertensive patients with end-stage renal failure.

Patients with volume overload and diabetes mellitus, myeloma, amyloidosis, or polycystic renal disease were all excluded. Fifty patients undergoing hemodialysis for the first time were grouped as normotensive (23/50) and hypertensive (27/50). Hypertensive patients were then divided into subgroups having slight (4/27), medium (13/27), or high (10/27) hypertension. Using ultrasonographic methods, absolute renal size, relative renal size (renal length/body length), renal volume (length x width x depth x 0.52), and renal shape (width/length) were calculated.

In hypertensive patients, right and left relative and absolute renal lengths and left renal volume were found to be significantly less than in normotensive patients. Within the hypertensive group, no significant differences were found in the parameters. There was no relationship between age, sex, height, weight, body mass index, creatinine, creatinine clearance, sodium, calcium levels, renal shape and hypertension.

In this study, etiopathogenesis of the renal disease, individual and multifactorial effects, residual renal function and nephron numbers may be involved in the results. Further investigations are needed to evaluate multifactorial effects on blood pressure and kidney size in chronic renal failure patients.