Renal Hypertension & Renovascular disease –Causes, Symptoms & Treatment

High blood pressure doesn’t just affect the heart. Renal hypertension, also called renovascular hypertension, is when elevated blood pressure affects the kidney, causing kidney disease.

Causes of Renal Hypertension & Renovascular disease

When the arteries are too narrow to deliver blood to the kidney. It may so happen that one or both kidneys' arteries may be narrowed. This is a condition called renalartery stenosis.

When the kidneys don’t receive enough blood flow, they act on the protective functions as if this was caused by dehydration. They react by discharging hormones that stimulate the body to preserve sodium and water. Causing the blood vessels to fill up with excess fluid, and so the blood pressure goes up.

Atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries happens when one or both renal arteries narrows down. It must be noted that 9 out of 10 renovascular disease cases are caused by Atherosclerosis. It can affect the renal artery’s large and/or small branches. Patients with diabetes, coronary artery disease or other types of high blood pressure are at risk. Though a lesser common reason for the vessels narrowing is fibromuscular dysplasia. It’s is unclear why this condition causes the structure of the renal arteries to develops abnormally.

S y m pt o ms o f R e na l H y pe rt e ns i o n & R e n o v a s cul a r di s e a s e

Symptoms of renovascular hypertension usually have no symptoms. The narrowing of the arteries is internal and therefore can be felt. The symptoms only crop up when it’s already serious. Though one can keep a check on high blood pressure. The symptoms of very high blood pressure:

Headache, Confusion, Blurry vision, pink-colored urine, Nosebleed

Renal disease treatment tends to come by when the high blood pressure has already taken its toll on the kidneys and other organs. The damage tends to be slow and since high blood pressure doesn’t have any obvious symptoms, it’s easy to ignore or overlook it.

Chronic kidney disease is caused because of the narrowing of theblood vessels of the kidneys. It leads to a slow decline of kidney function until the condition is well advanced.

T r e a t m e n t f o r R e n a l Hy p e r t e n s i o n & R e n o v as c ul a r d i s e a s e

● Medications are first given to and get control of high blood pressure, that’s leading to renal hypertension. The medications are:

ACE inhibitors(angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors)

ARBs (angiotensin II receptor blockers)

Cholesterol-lowering drugs

● Lifestyle changes can be a catalyst in improving health. Not smoking, avoiding second-hand smoking as well, no or very low alcohol intake, exercising and maintaining healthy habits have been proven to help.

● Surgical treatments will be prescribed if and when a kidney specialist (nephrologist) or surgeons feels. Treatment for renovascular disease can be found in kidney care hospitals, like NU Hospitals.