Fibromuscular dysplasia of renal arteries: an important cause of renovascular hypertension in children

Abstract

Fibromuscular dysplasia of renal arteries was the cause of hypertension in four consecutive children with renal artery stenosis. Two were asymptomatic, the third had had hypertension for seven years but had not been treated, and the fourth, a 9-month-old infant, presented with cardiac failure. Heart enlargement and left ventricular hypertrophy were present in all. Rapid sequence urograms demonstrated a smaller kidney and delayed appearance and disappearance of the contrast medium on the affected side in all. Angiograms showed left RAS in all. Peripheral plasma renin activity was elevated in only three of the four patients. Antihypertensive and diuretic drugs were not very effective therapeutically. Ischemia of the ipsilateral kidney probably prevented normal growth and led to shrinkage of the kidney in one patient. Following nephrectomy the BP has remained normal without any therapy for 24 to 64 months. With normalization of BP, accelerated growth ensued, the cardiomegaly regressed and the hypertensive retinopathy resolved. These patients demonstrate that: (1) FMD is an important cause of RAS. (2) the well-known radiologic feature of FMD, the beaded appearance, is usually not seen in children. (3) control of BP leads to normalization of linear growth, usually impaired in severe hypertension, and (4) target organ complications such as cardiomegaly, LVH, and hypertensive retinopathy are reversible in one to 10 months.