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Vascular Conditions

Basics of the Blood Vessels
Chronic Venous Insufficiency & Varicose Veins
Deep Vein Thrombosis & Pulmonary Embolism
Peripheral Artery Disease
Stroke & Transient Ischemic Attack
Carotid Artery Disease
Renal Artery Disease

Renal Artery Disease

Also known as: Renal artery stenosis

The main functions of the kidneys are to eliminate the body’s wastes through urine and help maintain blood pressure and red blood cell counts. They are supplied by the right and left renal arteries.

When the renal arteries are narrowed due to the buildup of plaque or fibromuscular dysplasia, this is called renal artery disease. Plaque (also known as atherosclerosis) forms in the artery walls from inflammatory substances and cholesterol. As plaque continues to build up, the arteries gradually harden and become narrower.

This leads to the reduced blood flow (which carries oxygen and essential nutrients) to your kidneys and ultimately, the kidneys lose their ability to function. This leads to high blood pressure, anemia and chronic kidney disease.

  • Most commonly due to atherosclerosis in the right and/or left renal arteries of the kidneys
  • Less commonly due to fibromuscular dysplasia (which affects young women)
  • Rarely it may be due to vasculitis (inflammation of blood vessels) or due to a mass causing external compression

Note: Not everyone may experience all the symptoms

  • Sedentary lifestyle
  • Smoking or the use of other tobacco products
  • High LDL (bad cholesterol)
  • Low HDL (good cholesterol)
  • High blood pressure
  • Diabetes
  • Obesity
  • Kidney Disease
  • Abdominal obesity
  • Family history
  • Atherosclerosis in other arteries like coronary artery disease, peripheral artery disease, and/or carotid artery disease

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de Leeuw PW, Postma CT, Spiering W, Kroon AA. Atherosclerotic Renal Artery Stenosis: Should we Intervene Earlier? Curr Hypertens Rep. 2018;20(4):35. Published 2018 Apr 10. doi:10.1007/s11906-018-0829-3
Herrmann SM, Textor SC. Renovascular Hypertension. Endocrinol Metab Clin North Am. 2019;48(4):765-778. doi:10.1016/j.ecl.2019.08.007
Gupta R, et al. Renal artery stenosis: New findings from the CORAL trial. Current Cardiology Report. 2017; doi:10.1007/s11886-017-0894-2.
Textor SC, et al. The role of hypoxia in ischemic chronic kidney disease. Seminars in Nephrology. 2019; doi:10.1016/j.semnephrol.2019.10.008
Eirin A, Textor SC, Lerman LO. Novel therapeutic strategies for renovascular disease. Curr Opin Nephrol Hypertens. 2019;28(4):383-389. doi:10.1097/MNH.0000000000000513