[Arterial stenosis in the renal graft. Spontaneous evolution in 40 cases]

From January 1976 to June 1989, 138 renal artery stenoses (RAS) occurred in a population of 1,200 renal transplantations in a single center (11.5 percent). An interventional procedure was performed in 89 patients: surgery in 39 and transluminal angioplasty in 50. Six other patients were excluded from the study because of complications and RAS spontaneously disappeared in 3 patients. Finally, 40 patients were treated medically with a mean follow-up of 57.6 months (range 12 to 116 months). In this group, the actuarial graft survival rate did not significantly differ from that of the 2 other groups. One patient only lost his graft from renal artery thrombosis. The mean serum creatinine level at the time of RAS diagnosis (140 +/- 8.6 mumol/l) was not significantly different from the mean serum creatinine level at the last follow-up (146 +/- 14.6 mumol/l). The degree of hypertension, graded on the number of anti-hypertensive drugs, was not different at the time of diagnosis and at the end of follow-up. In conclusion, in our experience, the spontaneous course of RAS does not result in an increased rate of graft failure or impaired long-term renal function.