Arterial reconstructive surgery for renovascular hypertension.

Many hypertensive patients with renal artery stenosis and abnormal findings on renin angiotensin assay can be cured or markedly improved by renal artery surgery. Because the mortality is low, we think that patients whose blood pressures are resistant to medical management should be examined carefully for renal artery stenosis as the cause of their hypertension. If such a lesion is found, many of these patients can expect to enjoy a good clinical response from renal artery reconstruction. Those patients who do not have satisfactory results from the surgical correction should undergo aggressive reevaluation to detect any correctable anatomic defects.