Renovascular hypertension is a reversible cause of hypertension secondary to a decrease in renal perfusion pressure which activates the renin-angiotensin system and leads to the release of rennin and the production of angiotensin II. It is a progressive disorder that can result in serious complications without adequate treatment.
Angiotensin II increases sodium reabsorption and induces postglomeruler and systemic arterial vasoconstriction, causing renovascular hypertension. The prevalence of renovascular hypertension was estimated at about 5% of all hypertensive individuals but it is varied form less than 1% to more than 50% depending on the degree of screening in the study population.
With prevalence of about 5%, renovascular disease represents the most frequent cause of secondary hypertension.
Unlike the diagnosis of most other cardiovascular and nephorologic conditions, renovascular hypertension can be diagnosed only retrospectively, by means of a physiologic blood pressure (BP) response to an intervention.
Renovascular hypertension
