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Doctors discourage surgery in patients tested for renal failure

Updated: 2009-11-12 22:10:22 CST Category: Kidney Diseases

by Brendan Missett

Successful recoveries from blocked renal arteries occur about as often in patients who were treated with medication as in those who have the blood vessels widened surgically, new research indicates.

In a British study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from the University of Manchester randomly separated 806 people with atherosclerotic renovascular disease into a group that received revascularization surgery with medical treatment and a group that received medical treatment alone, HealthDay News reports.

After five years, the prevalence of heart and kidney problems and death rates were statistically negligible between the two groups. However, a total of 23 people in the surgery group experienced serious side effects like amputation.

"In asymptomatic people with chronic kidney disease, there is no benefit from subjecting them to a risky procedure of revascularization," Dr Philip Kalra, the study's co-author, told the news source.

According to Kalra and his colleagues, a combination of drugs such as statins that lower cholesterol and blood pressure, and drugs that prevent clotting like aspirin can control renal artery stenosis with limited risks.

MedicineNet reports that testing for renal artery stenosis is most commonly undertaken by patients with continued kidney failure and people with high blood pressure that does not respond well to medications.

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