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Renal artery stenosis (RAS) is a narrowing of the arteries to one or both of the kidneys that can cause hypertension (high blood pressure) and, sometimes, reduced kidney function and size (atrophy). It occurs more commonly in older people with atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries with plaque buildup, leading to narrowing of the channel where the blood flows). Hypertension caused by RAS is called secondary hypertension. This means that, unlike essential or primary hypertension (the most common form of high blood pressure, which does not have a specific known cause), secondary hypertension does have a specific cause. In some cases, diagnosing and treating RAS can result in decreasing or eliminating the need to take medication for hypertension. The narrowing of the kidney arteries in RAS is usually due to atherosclerosis; more rarely it can be caused by abnormal growth of tissue within the wall of the artery. . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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Carolyn J. Hildreth, MD, Writer; Cassio Lynm, MA, Illustrator; Richard M. Glass, MD, Editor

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