[Solitary kidney: a risk factor for hypertension].

In patients with solitary kidney, either congenital or acquired, compensatory mechanisms come into play to maintain renal function, such as glomerular hyperfiltration and hypertrophy and renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system activation. In the long term, these mechanisms lead to arterial hypertension and then chronic kidney disease. The risk of arterial hypertension is greater in cases of congenital single kidney or of nephrectomy in childhood than in adulthood. Having a single kidney increases the risk of gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia. Antihypertensive treatment is based on Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and sartans for their anti-proteinuric effect but otherwise does not differ from that of the general population.