1. Renal Artery Stenosis
Ashar Luqman, M.D
August 10, 2010

2. Definition
Renal artery stenosis is the narrowing of the renal artery, most often caused by atherosclerosis or fibromuscular dysplasia. This narrowing of the renal artery can impede blood flow to the target kidney. Hypertension and atrophy of the affected kidney may result from renal artery stenosis, ultimately leading to renal failure if not treated
Pressure gradient of 20 mmHg across stenotic area during angiography is usually considered to be of hemodynamic significance

3. Epidemiology Common Disease: Incidence General Population 0.1%
HTN %
HTN and suspected CAD %
Malignant HTN %
Malignant HTN and Renal Insufficiency %

4. Epidemiology Ultrasound screening in patients (mean age of 77): 6.8%
Male : female 2:1
No racial difference
(Hansen. J Vasc Surg. 2002;36:443–451)
Autopsies in 221 patients > 50 years: 27%
H/o diastolic HTN: 53%
(Holley. Am J Med. 1964;37:14 –22)
Diagnostic cath for suspected CAD: up to 20%
Third most common reason of ESRD (after DM and HTN), seen in 10-20% of ESRD patients > 50 yrs old
(Rihal. Mayo Clin Proc. 2002;77:309 –316)

5. Causes Common causes Less Common causes Atherosclerosis
Fibromuscular dysplasia
Less Common causes
Vasculitis (Takayasu’s arteritis)
Dissection of the renal artery.
Thromboembolic disease
Renal artery aneurysm
Renal artery coarctation
Extrinsic compression
Radiation injury

6. Fibromuscular Dysplasia
Accounts for 10% of all cases of RAS. 90% cases involve media
Affect females, age 15-50
Rarely leads to renal artery occlusion
Genetic predisposition, smoking, hormonal factors, and disorders of the vasa vasorum are possible risk factors
Angiography:
Site: distal renal artery
Beaded, aneurysmal appearance
Treatment:
Ballon Angioplasty :
Successful in %
Restenosis in 10%
Cure HTN in 60%
Safian. NEJM. 2001;344:

7. Fibromuscular Dysplasia

8. Atherosclerosis Accounts for >2/3rd of the cases of RAS
Primarily affects men over the age of 45
Usually involves the aortic orifice or the proximal main renal artery. In advanced cases, segmental and diffuse intrarenal atherosclerosis may also be observed leading to IRD
This disorder is particularly common in old patients with diffuse atherosclerosis particularly with diabetes, aortoiliac occlusive disease, CAD, or HTN but can occur as a relatively isolated renal lesion
51% have progressive disease, 3-16% have total occlusion and renal atrophy developed in 21% of cases with stenosis >60%
Caps MT et al Circulation 1998;98:2866

9. Atherosclerosis, a common cause of RAS

10. Atherosclerosis

11. Pathophysiology

12. Pathophysiology

13. Clinical Findings HTN:
Difficult-to-control hypertension despite adequate medical treatment
Accelerated or malignant hypertension
Severe hypertension (diastolic blood pressure >120 mm Hg) or resistant hypertension
Paradoxical worsening of hypertension with diuretic therapy
Onset of hypertension occurring in patients younger than 30 years or older than 50 years
Hypertension with an asymmetric kidney

14. Clinical Findings Renal abnormalities
Unexplained azotemia (suggestive of atherosclerotic renal-artery stenosis)
Azotemia induced by treatment with an angiotensin-converting–enzyme inhibitor
Unilateral small kidney
Unexplained hypokalemia

15. Clinical Findings Other findings:
Abdominal bruit, flank bruit, or both
Severe retinopathy
Carotid, coronary, or peripheral vascular disease
Unexplained congestive heart failure or acute pulmonary edema

16. Renovascular HTN and Pulmonary Edema
Recurrent Pumonary Edema :
HTN induced increase in after-load.
Diastolic dysfunction ( LVH )
Sodium retention, with bilateral disease.
Pickering, TG, et al. Recurrent pulmonary oedema in hypertension due to bilateral renal artery stenosis:
Treatment by angioplasty or surgical revascularization. Lancet 1988; 2:551.

17. RVH and Hyponatremia Renovascular hypertension and hyponatremia.
Retrospective study of 32 patients with renovascular hypertension
mean plasma concentration of sodium was meq/L, correlated inversely with plasma renin levels.
? sec. to dipsogenic effects of angiotensin II.
Agarwal, M,etal. Hyponatremic-hypertensive syndrome with renal ischemia:
An underrecognized disorder. Hypertension 1999; 33:1020

18. Protienuria with RVH Nephrotic range protienuria !.
Regression of protienuria with correction of vascular lesion.
Presence of protienuria, DOES NOT exlcude renovascular HTN.
Chen R etal, Reversible renin mediated massive protienuria
successfully treated by nephrectomy. J Urol 1995;153:

19. Clinical Syndromes in RAS

20. Renovascular HTN
RVH: The most common correctable cause of secondary HTN.
A syndrome of elevated blood pressure, and decreased renal perfusion.
Relatively Less common in blacks.
Incidence
~ < 1% in patients with mild to moderate HTN.
10-45% in patients with acute ( superimposed on essential ), severe, and or resistant HTN.
Davis etal, Prevalence of renovascular hypertension in patients with
grade III or IV retinopathy. N Engl J Med 1979; 301:1273

21. RAS and Hypertension; Possible Clinical Presentations
True reno-vascular HTN.
Essential HTN with presence of RAS, but not contributing to hypertension.
Essential HTN with superimposed HTN secondary to RAS.
RAS with presence of renal parenchymal disease. (Ischemic CKD)

22. Ischemic Renal Disease
Critical reduction in renal blood flow to functioning renal parenchyma leading to decreased GFR, which overtime causes progressive renal injury and atrophyand thus, permanent loss of renal structural and functional integrity
Ischemic renal disease has three anatomic variations:
Unilateral stenosis and occlusion in a single kidney
Bilateral critical renal artery stenosis or occlusion
Unilateral stenosis or occluison with contralateral atrophy/nonfunction
IRD Causing ESRD: %

23. Ischemic Renal Disease

24. IRD: Pathophysiology

25. Who should we screen?
Why we need to screen?

26. ACA/AHA Guidelines 2005

27. Screening And Diagnostic tests for Renal Artery Stenosis
Renal Arteriogram
Gold standard.
Non invasive Tests
Higher false negatives, especially, in patients with intra-renal involvement.
Non Invasive Tests of Choice: depends on patient factors/ availability/ expertise.
MRA
CT Angiogram
Duplex Doppler ultrasound.

28. MRA in Renal Artery Stenosis
Mainly for suspected atherosclerotic lesions.
Non invasive, good for proximal lesions.
Low Sensitivity for fibromuscular Disease.
Caution with GFR <30 ml/min.
Nephrogenic systemic Fibrosis: potentially fatal.

29. MRA in Renal Artery Stenosis

30. MRA and Renal Artery Stenosis
Postma, CT etal Magnetic resonance angiography has a high reliability in the detection of renal artery stenosis. Am J Hypertens 1997; 10:957.
Compared MR vs Digital substraction arteriography.
N 37
MR had 100% sensitivity, 96 % specificity .
Missed 9/12 accessory renal arteries.
Vasbinder, et al. Accuracy of computed tomographic angiography and magnetic resonance angiography for diagnosing renal artery stenosis. Ann Intern Med 2004; 141:674.
350 patients; compared MR / CTA/ DSA
20% patients had RAS.
Sensitivity of MRA was 62% and spec. 84%
Study limitations. 36% Patients had FMD, large no. of patients without high clinical suspicion.
MR has limited utility in FMD (22 % sensitivity. 96% specificity.)

31. Spiral CT with CT Angiogram:
Non-Invasive, highly accurate, lower risk than Digital Substraction Arteriography .
Nephrotoxic potential.
Better for atherosclerotic lesions, lower sensitivity In FMD ~ 28%.
Kim, et al. Renal artery evaluation: comparison of spiral CT angiography to intra-arterial DSA. J Vasc Interv Radiol 1998; 9:553.
N 50
Senstivitiy of 90 and spec. 97% for lesions greater than 50%.
Senstivity 100 and specificity 97 (patients with main renal artery disease )
Olbricht, et al. Minimally invasive diagnosis of renal artery stenosis by spiral computed tomography angiography. Kidney Int 1995; 48:1332
N 62, spiral CT with Angiogram compared with arteriogram.
98% sensitive. 94 %specific.

32. Spiral CT with CT Angiogram:

33. Duplex Doppler Ultrasound
Non Invasive, can detect bilateral disease/ recurrent and or re-stenosis.
Anatomic and functional assessment of renal arteries.
Compares systolic flow velocity of renal artery to aorta./ increase in end diastolic velocity in post stenotic area.
Highly operator dependant/ time consuming .
Measurement of peak systolic velocity 85% sensitive and 92% specific.
Williams, GJ, et al. Comparative accuracy of renal duplex sonographic parameters
in the diagnosis of renal artery stenosis: paired and unpaired analysis. AJR Am J Roentgenol 2007; 188:798.

34. Comparing Non invasive tests

35. Tests no more Recommended
Plasma rennin avtivity, captopril renogram , and intravenous pyelogram
Not currently recommended for screening, b/c of low senstivity, high false negative rates.
Oral captopril mg is given, prior to isotope injection
Major criteria for positive test.
Decreased relative uptake with one kidney accounting for <40% of total GFR.
Delayed peak uptake of the isotope min.
Slower washout in stenotic kidney.
( > 5 min. delay)

36. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF STENOTIC LESIONS.
Clinical history is important.
>75% Occlusion of 1 or both arteries on arteriogram is diagnostic.
50% stenosis with post-stenotic dilatation is suggestive of RVH.

37. Predicting outcomes of the revascularization
Resistive Index:
1-end-diastolic velocity/peak systolic velocity
6000 Patients with HTN/ and clinical suspicion, screened for RVH.,
131 had RAS, .
Patients with resistive index >0.8
80% had decline in renal function
50% dialysis dependant
Only 1 patient had > 10mmhg reduction in BP.
Patients with RI < 0.8
94 % had significant reduction in BP.
3% had decline in renal function
Radermacher, J, et al. Use of Doppler ultrasonography to predict the outcome of therapy
for renal-artery stenosis. N Engl J Med 2001; 344:410.

38. Predicting outcomes of the revascularization
Radermacher, J, et al. Use of Doppler ultrasonography to predict the outcome of
therapy for renal-artery stenosis. N Engl J Med 2001; 344:410.

39. Predicting outcomes of the revascularization
Radermacher, J, et al. Use of Doppler ultrasonography to predict the outcome of
therapy for renal-artery stenosis. N Engl J Med 2001; 344:410.

40. Treatment
Recommendations are based on 2005 ACC/AHA guidelines for peripheral arterial disease.

41. Medical Therapy Severe bilateral disease:
Optimal medical therapy in recent randomized trials has included aggressive blood pressure (BP) control with multiple agents, lipid lowering therapy with a statin, antiplatelet agents and smoking cessation
ACE-I, CCB, BB (Level of evidence A)
ARB ( Level of Evidence B)
Concern with ACE-I
Reduction In GFR.
Usually minimal elevation in SCr., only 5-10% have larger increase
Severe bilateral disease:
Marked reduction in GFR with ANY HTN agent. -- intervention recommended

42. PTRA and Stenting for RAS
2005 ACC/AHA Guidelines:
Stenting Ostial lesions.(patients meeting criteria for intervention)
Balloon angioplasty alone for FMD ( with bailout stent , if necessary)

43. PTRA and Stenting for RAS
Angioplasty alone is less successful.
Meta-analysis of 24 studies comapring Angioplasty vs stent placenment at 6-29 months
Restenosis: 26% VS 17%
Tech. success: 77% vs 98%
Small non randomized studies shown benefit for
BP control and improvement in renal function
However those studies were not well powered
Highly Effective in Ostial lesions.
65-80% success rate % re-stenosis.

44. Surgical Revascularization
Bilateral Repair, unilateral repair with contralateral nephrectomy of non functioning , atrophic kidney.
70-90% cure rate reported.
3-6% mortality.
Indications:
Aortic Reconstruction
( Aneurysm, aorto-iliac occlusive disease )
Multiple small renal arteries.
Outcome %
FMD
N 575
ASRD
N 631
Cured 62 37
Improved 26 46
Cured/+ 89 84
Failure 10 15
Stanley JC, Surgical Treatment of renovascular hypertension. Am J Surg 1997;174: )

45. Surgical Revascularization Vs Other Therapies
42 prospective or retrospective cohort studies of either endovascular or surgical treatment of ARAS documented 30-day mortality rates that were 3.1% higher(1.8%–4.4%) among surgically treated patients, despite the fact that these patients who underwent surgical repair were younger (62 versus 68 years), less likely to have IHD (53% versus 60%), and less likely to have DM (14% versus 26%)
Abela R, et. An analysis comparing open surgical and endovascular treatment of atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis. Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg. 2009;38:
Uzzo et al compared medical therapy with surgery:
52 pts, with ckd, uncontrolled HTN and >75% RAS in any one of renal artery
No difference in prim outcome (HTN, worsening Cr, CV endpoint) after 6 yr f/u
Balzer et al compared 50 ARAS complications with angioplasty vs surgery
Surgery was associated with non significant (25% vs 18%) in 4 yr f/u

46. Revascularization VS Medical Therapy
Randomized controlled trials
DRASTIC ( Dutch renal artery stenosis Intervention co-op trial) Apr 2000 NEJM
STAR ( Stent placement Atherosclerotic renal artery trial) : June 2009 Ann Int Med
ASTRAL ( Angioplasty and stent in Renal artery Lesions): Nov 2009 NEJM
CORAL ( CV outcomes in Renal Atherosclerotic Lesions): Enrollment finished in Jan 2010, follow up will cont till 2014

47. DRASTIC
Prospective, randomized study was conducted at 26 centers in the Netherlands between January 1993 and November 1998
Renal Arteriography done in 543 patients because their diastolic blood pressure, measured at three consecutive visits was at least 95 mm Hg despite treatment with a standardized regimen of two antihypertensive drugs or because their serum Cr on the second or third visit had risen by at least 0.2 mg/dl during treatment with an ACE

48. DRASTIC
169 were found to have ostial or nonostial renal-artery stenosis (defined as a decrease in luminal diameter of more than50 percent) and thus were considered candidates for the treatment phase
Out of those 63 were excluded because of
Single functioning kidney and a serum Cr greater than 1.7 mg per deciliter
Affected kidney that was less than 8.0 cm long, as determined by USG
Total occlusion of the renal artery
Aortic aneurysm necessitating surgery;
Renal-artery stenosis due to fibromuscular dysplasia
106 were eligible for the treatment phase and were randomly assigned to undergo balloon angioplasty or to receive antihypertensive-drug therapy

49. DRASTIC

50. DRASTIC

51. DRASTIC

52. DRASTIC Limitations: Conclusion: High Cross over rate (44%)
Low number of stents used
Conclusion:
It is prudent to use balloon angioplasty in those pts whose BP is difficult to control with three meds or more or who have worsening renal function but not in any other subset of patient

53. STAR
Randomized trial involving 10 centers (9 in the Netherlands and 1 in France).
Patients were randomly assigned to undergo renal artery stent placement combined with medical treatment or medical treatment only.
Patients were monitored for 2 years
Inclusion Criteria:
Impaired renal Function ( CrCl <80 by CG on 2 separate occasions)
Unilateral or Bilateral ostial stenosis ( 50% or more by CTA, MRA or digital subtratction angio)
Stable BP( <140/90) with a stable regimen without ACE or ARB prefrably
Exclusion Criteria:
Renal size less than 8 cm
Renal artery diameter less than 4 mm
CrCl less than 15 mL/min per 1.73 m2
DM and Malignant HTN

54. STAR
Medication Group: Target BP of 140/90 with CCB, diuretics, BB, alpha blockers followed by ACE or ARB, plus mg atorvastatin, ASA and smoking cessation counselling
Stent Group: Same Medication regimen plus Palmaz-Corinthian IQ/Palmaz-Genesis stent was placed in every ostial stenosis
Follow up at 1 and 3 mo and then every 3 mo for 2 yrs
End points:
Primary: Worsening renal function (20% or more decrease in CrCl)
Secondary: CV morbidity and mortality, complications, Pulmonary edema and Malignant HTN

55. STAR

56. STAR

57. STAR
Limitations:
Non invasive techniques used for diagnosis (False positive)
Low power( Lower than expected event rate and short follow up)
Findings compatible with harm and efficacy and are inconclusive
Conclusion:
No statistically significant diff. in worsening renal fx and mortality b/w stent placemnet vs medical therapy

58. ASTRAL Multicenter, randomized, unblinded clinical trial
September 2000 through October 2007, a total of 806 patients were enrolled (403 in each study group) at 57 hospitals (in UK mostly)
Patients were eligible if they had uncontrolled HTN, stenosis on non-invasive testing and were suitable for revascularization and physician was uncertain if revascularization is indicated. Not eligible if they had previous revascularzation, unstable CAD or required surgical revascularization.
The majority of patients had severe RAS (59% had stenosis of more than 70%) or clinically significant renal impairment (60% had a serum creatinine level of 1.7 mg/dl or more) or both

59. ASTRAL
Medical Therapy: BP control (optimal), Antiplatlet and lipid lowering drugs
Revascularization: Angioplasty with or without stenting in addition to same medication therapy
Follow up: 1-3 mo, 6-8 mo and once a year for 5 years
Primary Outcome: change in renal function, assessed by measuring the mean slope of the reciprocal of the serum creatinine level over time
Secondary Outcome: blood pressure, the time to the first renal event, the time to the first major cardiovascular event, and mortality
Revascularization attempted in 83%, stent in 95% of revascularized pts.
6% of Medication therapy group crossed over and received a stent
9% of pts with revascularization had periprocedural complications, out of those 40% were serious. 20% had adverse events in 1 month

62. ASTRAL

63. ASTRAL Sub-group Analysis: Limitation: Conclusion:
No significant differences in the primary outcome in any of the subroups defined according to the
serum Cr level, e-GFR, severity of renal-artery stenosis, kidney length, and previous rate of progression of renal impairment
Limitation:
Inclusion criteria based on uncertainty of treating physician
Conclusion:
Revascularization carried substantial risk but was not associated with any benefit with respect to renal function, blood pressure, renal or cardiovascular events, or mortality when compared head to head in a randomized large trial with medical therapy alone

64. Summary
Renovascular disease is an important correctable cause of secondary HTN.
Decision to screen for RVH should be based on strong clinical suspicion, pt’s renal function, and ability to tolerate intervention.
MRA and CT Angiogram provide accurate non-invasive assessment.
Medical Therapy have been proven to be of equal efficacy in management of RAS as compared to revascularization in recently published RCT
Surgical Intervention no longer recommended sec. to increase mortality

65. Questions?