Selective Renal Arteriography in the Diagnosis of Renal Hypertension

Renal arteriography following percutaneous femoral arterial catheterization (Seldinger technic) was performed in 100 selected hypertensive patients. Eighty-four per cent of the renal arteries encountered were individually catheterized. This procedure permitted a more detailed study of arterial branches than previously possible with aortic injection of contrast material. No serious complications occurred. Fifty-two patients were found to have disease of renal arteries or their branches. Eleven or 21 per cent of these patients, had lesions of main arterial trunks. Thirty (58 per cent) had disease of primary branches either alone or in combination with main renal arterial lesions. Aneurysms of primary arterial branches were found in five patients, and avascular segments of renal parenchyma in four. The frequency of primary branch arterial disease was greater in this group of patients than in others previously reported. This difference may be due to improved visualization of the renal arterial system obtained with selective arteriography.