Stenosis of renal artery

Stenosis kidney / stenosis renal artery

A stenosis of the kidney or stenosis of the renal artery is a constriction or narrowing of the artery in the kidney causing different kinds of symptoms.

Symptoms stenosis kidney / stenosis renal artery

The stenosis of the renal artery may cause abdominal pain, especially along the flank. The amount of urine can also decrease drastically. The vascular stenosis may also lead to high blood pressure along with headachedizziness, nausea, increased transpiration or shortness of breath when under stress.

  • abdominal pain, especially along the flank
  • reduction of urine
  • high blood pressure along with headachedizziness, nausea, increased transpiration or shortness of breath under stress

Causes stenosis kidney / stenosis renal artery

Stenosis of renal artery can be congenital or acquired during life. If the stenosis has no genetic origin, it is mostly caused by arteriosclerosis. Arteriosclerosis is a term for a vascular disease during which the condition of arteries, especially the vascular wall, worsens over a long period of time. This worsening is caused by the thickening of the artery wall due to fat, soft tissue, calcification or blood clots. This process can be triggered by the interplay of genes, overweight, very fatty and sugary nutrition, smoking, lack of motion/exercise and other diseases like congenital vascular malformation, diabetes or increased blood pressure. Men in their second half of their life seem to develop arteriosclerosis more often. The stenosis of the renal artery can result in a lack of blood and, thus, a lack of oxygen in the kidney. The lack of blood can also increase the blood pressure over a regulatory hormone circuit. This deficit may lead to atrophic kidney (shrunken kidney) or even to renal infarction.

Diagnostics stenosis kidney / stenosis renal artery

The diagnosis stenosis of the renal artery necessitates a comprehensive examination including imaging procedures like the non-invasive ultrasound or MRI or the invasive angiography. MRI and ultrasound enable us to evaluate the vascular condition very well, but it can be necessary to carry out angiography in some cases.

All examinations can be carried out at Beta Klinik. Read more about our diagnostics.

Therapy stenosis kidney / stenosis renal artery

If the stenosis of the renal artery cannot be sufficiently treated by drug therapy, minimally invasive endovascular surgery is necessary. Endovascular means that the treatment takes places within the vessels over a catheter using a balloon or stents. Balloons can dilate the vessels. Subject to the state of the stenosis, a stent can be placed. A stent is a small tube dilating the vessel permanently. A new technique is the treatment with drug eluting balloons (DEB), which set drugs free while dilating the vessel. These drugs should prevent the vessels from the settling of substances at the vascular wall.

Read more about the minimally invasive, endovascular therapy of the stenosis of the kidney / stenosis of the renal artery