The evolution of surgery for renovascular occlusive disease

Renal artery stenotic disease is the most common form of surgically correctable hypertension. Occlusive lesions of the renal artery are categorized as: arteriosclerotic, fibrodysplastic (intimal fibroplasia, medial fibrodysplasia, perimedial dysplasia) and developmental. The incidence of stroke, heart disease and renal failure has been reduced with contemporary drug management of hypertensive vascular disease, but similar salutary outcomes have not accompanied the medical treatment of renin-mediated renovascular hypertension. Selection of patients for operation implies documentation that a renal artery stenosis is of functional importance. Advances in the surgical management of renovascular hypertension have evolved over the past 50 years, such that carefully performed reconstructions benefit 85-95% of properly selected patients.