A small study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine compares the placement of renal artery stents versus conservative management for the treatment of atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis with impaired renal function.
The investigators found that stent placement was no better than conservative management. In fact the procedure group was found to have a small number of significant procedure related complications including cholesterol embolism leading to dialysis, infected hematoma and death.
Limitations of this study: This study has a small number of patient population (n=140) which makes it difficult to generalize the results to the entire population. Also non-invasive imaging overestimated the degree of renal artery stenosis leading to a number of people undergoing renal angiography but not requiring stent placement.
Conclusion: Conservative management is better that stent placement for atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis.
Reference: Stent Placement in Patients With Atherosclerotic Renal Artery Stenosis and Impaired Renal Function
Tags: Angioplasty, Atherosclerosis, catheterization, nephrology, renal, Stent
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