A successful therapy of renovascular hypertension

Authors describe a rare cause, diagnostic difficulties and successful therapy of renovascular hypertension in a 12 year-old girl caused by anular stenosis of the intrarenal arterial branch. Activation of the system renin-angiotensin (RAS) is found in all forms of renovascular hypertension at the beginning. Etiologically, stenosis in childhood is caused mostly by renal artery dysplasia, affecting mostly media, and fibromuscular dysplasia. Fibromuscular dysplasia affects middle and distal third of renal artery in 60%, more frequently on right, only in 10% of cases affects segmental branches; one quarter of patients are affected bilaterally. This disease is found predominantly in young women. During clinical course, typical signs include sudden onset of severe and poorly controlled hypertension, renal insufficiency, proteinuria and hypertensive retinopathy. From non-invasive diagnostic approaches, color duplex ultrasound, NMR and CT angiography are important, from invasive ones, digital subtractive angiography and the measurement of plasma rennin activity in renal veins. In therapy, it is percutaneous transluminal renal angioplasty, associated with low mortality and morbidity. The net result of angioplasty is dilation of stenosis, complete restoration of artery lumen and flow and decrease of blood pressure. The best results can be achieved in young patients with fibromuscular dysplasia, more then half can recover completely. Using this method, also our patient has recovered (Tab. 2, Fig. 2, Ref. 7).