Usefulness of dynamic reno-scintigraphy in the follow-up of patients treated by surgery or percutaneous transluminal angioplasty for renovascular hypertension.

The aim of this study was to assess the role of dynamic reno-scintigraphy (DRS) in follow-up of 21 hypertensive patients who underwent surgery or percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) for renal artery stenosis. Dynamic reno-scintigraphy was recorded following injection of 0.12 mCi/kg 99Tcm-glucoheptonate i.v. before and after reconstructive vascular surgery or PTA. Serial images and renal time activity were analysed according to established criteria of interpretation. In terms of blood pressure response, 14 patients were cured or improved after surgery or PTA; DRS normalized or markedly improved in all these cases. Dynamic reno-scintigraphy did not change in seven patients who did not benefit from surgery or PTA. In three of them, repeated angiography showed, respectively, a by-pass occlusion, a renal artery re-occlusion after PTA, and a renoparenchymal disease. Dynamic reno-scintigraphy appears to reflect well the recovery of renal perfusion in patients treated by surgery or PTA for suspected renovascular hypertension.