Endoluminal surgery for renal artery stenosis hypertension

  With the rapid development of modern medicine, classical drug therapy has significantly improved the quality of life of hundreds of millions of patients with primary hypertension; while the treatment of secondary hypertension appears to be helpless. Renal artery stenosis is considered to be one of the most common causes of secondary hypertension. It is reassuring to know that nowadays, minimally invasive endovenous surgery can completely cure renal artery stenosis hypertension.  In renal artery stenosis hypertension, the pathological basis is atherosclerotic plaque fast formation, fibromuscular formation and embolism or thrombosis. Atherosclerotic stenosis of the renal arteries is a progressive disease. Renal artery occlusion is more likely to occur in patients with severe stenosis, combined with diabetes mellitus or severe hypertension.  The narrowing or occlusion of the renal artery reduces blood flow to the kidney, resulting in excessive renin production in the kidney, which increases angiotensin II and aldosterone in the body through the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, with the former increasing blood pressure by strongly constricting blood vessels and the latter increasing fluid volume in the body by promoting water and sodium retention. The former increases blood pressure by strongly constricting blood vessels, and the latter increases fluid volume in the body by promoting water and sodium retention, thus causing uncontrollable hypertension.  In our daily life, the following conditions may indicate the presence of renal artery stenosis hypertension: 1. hypertension before the age of 30 or severe hypertension after the age of 55; 2. acute hypertension; 3. intractable hypertension; 4. unexplained lower limb sensory disturbance, rest pain or intermittent claudication combined with hypertension.  How to make the correct diagnosis?  It is recommended to use three non-invasive means: duplex ultrasound, computed tomography angiography and magnetic resonance artery imaging for the diagnosis of RAS, and angiography can be applied to confirm the diagnosis of RAS when there is a high clinical suspicion and the non-invasive examination cannot reach a reliable conclusion.  In the treatment of renal artery stenosis hypertension, it is currently advocated that, except for patients who are inappropriate or inoperable to apply medical treatment, surgical treatment should be performed once the diagnosis of this type of disease is confirmed. Reconstruction of renal artery blood flow is the key to surgery. Renal artery balloon dilation-stenting is an emerging technique for endovascular treatment. Compared with traditional surgery, it has the advantages of less pain, faster recovery, more complete relief of blood pressure, elimination of the need for lifelong medication, low recurrence rate, and more importantly, elimination of secondary lesions of the patient’s heart, brain, eyes, kidneys and other important organs.