Surgical treatment of renal artery occlusive disease: long term results

68 patients were operated on for renal artery occlusive disease. After a mean follow-up of 61 months renovascular hypertension was cured or markedly improved in 79.2%. The results depended mostly on the duration of preexisting hypertension and on the histology of the renal artery lesion. Forty-four months after surgery, 37 reconstructions were examined by angiography. Mostly digital subtraction technique was used. Total occlusion rate was 24%. Patency rates of autogenous vein bypass grafts were similar to prosthetic grafts. It is concluded that prosthetic grafts like PTFE are a reasonable alternative in aortorenal bypass procedures.