[Percutaneous renal angioplasty]

Renal angioplasty was performed in twenty hypertensive patients, and good immediate results were obtained in 18 cases. One unsuccessful result was due to insufficient dilatation of a stenosed renal artery, and another from an accident during dissection of the aortic wall in contact with the renal ostium. Repeated dilatation was necessary in two cases following recurrence of stenosis. A high percentage improvement in the hypertension was obtained: 12 cases recovered and there was marked improvement in 4 other patients, treatment being effective, therefore, in 16 of the 20 patients operated upon. The published literature is reviewed, and emphasis placed on the need for treatment by surgeons experienced in angiography examinations, in close collaboration with the medical and surgical team, the later being ready to intervene if the slightest complication of a surgical nature develops.