What is Renal Artery Stenosis (RAS)?

In medical terms, renal artery stenosis, also known as renal artery disease, is a condition in which your arteries become constricted at the point where they supply blood to your kidneys from your heart. There are two renal arteries that supply blood to your left and right kidneys. The condition can present itself in any or both of these arteries. Renal artery stenosis leads to various outcomes, including chronic kidney disease, renal failure, and hypertension.

What are the symptoms of renal artery stenosis?

Renal artery stenosis (RAS) usually has no symptoms at all. It often does not start to cause such problems as high blood pressure and reduced function of the kidneys until the disease has already progressed. Symptoms of reduced kidney function include:

• Inability to think clearly or concentrating
• Lack of sleep
• Swelling caused by accumulation of fluid, edema
• Feeling of tiredness
• Headaches
• Weak appetite
• Spasms in the muscles
• Vomiting and nausea
• Difficulty in breathing or dyspnea
• Skin also changes; it may become dry, itchy, or darkened. There is unexplained weight loss.
• Urinates more or less often than they used to.

What causes renal artery stenosis?

Between 60 and 90 percent of renal artery stenosis (RAS) cases are due to atherosclerosis. The rest are usually the result of fibromuscular dysplasia. If cells grow abnormally in the walls of the arteries, this is referred to as fibromuscular dysplasia, and it narrows the arteries. It is caused by hormones or heredity and is much more common in women.

What are the risks of renal artery stenosis?

Risks associated with RAS may include the following:

• Kidney failure
• Coronary artery obstructions.
• Hypoplasia (shrinking of the kidney).
• End-stage renal disease.
• Obstruction of the arteries in the legs.
• Hypertension affecting the renal arteries.

How is renal artery stenosis diagnosed?

Healthcare providers may accidentally discover renal artery stenosis while diagnosing or treating another disease. Meanwhile, they perform a series of tests to confirm the disease.

• Physical exam: The physical exam includes checking blood pressure, limb swelling, and breathing. Unexplained high blood pressure is a common sign of RAS.
• Kidney function tests: The levels of the blood and urine product reveal failure of effective filtration from the blood.
• Imaging scans: A renal scan, duplex ultrasound, CTA, and MRA could be used to determine the size and blood flow in the kidneys.    

How is renal artery stenosis treated?

Medical management or lifestyle modification is the most common interventions for RAS. However, surgery becomes necessary if severe renal artery stenosis results in uncontrolled high blood pressure not attainable with medication or potential arterial occlusion at high risk or gradual loss of kidney function.

How can lifestyle changes help me manage renal artery stenosis?

The healthcare providers would prescribe lifestyle modifications, including proper diet, regular exercise, weight loss, and smoking cessation, to manage RAS and control high blood pressure.

How can medication help me manage renal artery stenosis?

Lifestyle modification combined with medications can help manage high blood pressure and delay the progression of kidney disease. In addition to lifestyle modification, healthcare providers suggest drugs, including ACE inhibitors, aspirin, beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, diuretics, and statins, to reduce cholesterol.

What surgeries are available for renal artery stenosis?

Severe RAS that is not controlled with medical therapy requires surgical intervention. The two most common vascular surgical procedures for RAS are as follows:

• Angioplasty and stenting: Angioplasty and renal artery stenting is a minimally invasive process to dilate a stenotic renal artery, expand a balloon, and insert a stent to keep open blood flow.
• Renal artery bypass: The surgeon bypasses the narrowed renal artery by using a graft or artificial tube from a blood vessel and sewing it onto a healthy artery and attaching it to the blocked artery.
• Renal endarterectomy: The surgeon opens your narrowed renal artery and scoops out the plaque and other debris that could be clogging up the blood flow.

How can I prevent renal artery stenosis?

You can avoid the risk of RAS by:

• Following a healthy and well-balanced meal plan.
• Regularly engaging in physical activity.
• Keeping blood pressure levels under control.
• Keeping the body weight within normal ranges.
• Abandoning any tobacco-related products.

When should I contact my healthcare provider?

In the event of an emergency induced by any of the following, please contact your doctor immediately.

• A crude taste in the mouth.
• Pain in the abdomen.
• Disorientation or inability to focus.
• Reduced urination.
• Sickness and vomiting.
• Inflation in your limbs or face.

Why Tender Palm Super-Speciality Hospital for Renal Artery Stenosis treatment in Lucknow, India?

Tender Palm Super-Speciality Hospital is one of the best hospital for Renal Artery Stenosis (RAS) treatment in Lucknow, India. We have expert team of vascular surgeons with modern technology, and compassionate care. We ensures safer surgeries, faster recovery, and better long-term results.

To seek an expert consultation for Renal Artery Stenosis treatment in Lucknow, India

Call us at +91-9076972161
Email at care@tenderpalm.com

Request a Call Back