Fibromuscular Dysplasia in Clinical Practice: A Case-based Review

Fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) is an idiopathic, nonatherosclerotic, noninflammatory disease with segmental involvement of the blood vessels that cause abnormal growth within the wall of an artery in any region of body. Fibromuscular dysplasia has been found in nearly every arterial bed in the body. However, the most common arteries affected are the renal and carotid arteries. It is a heterogeneous group of vascular lesions characterized by an idiopathic, noninflammatory, and nonatherosclerotic angiopathy of small and medium-sized arteries. The prevalence of FMD is estimated between 4 and 6% in the renal arteries and between 0.3 and 3% in the cervicoencephalic arteries.