Bilateral renal artery stenosis as a cause of refractory intradialytic hypertension in a patient with end stage renal disease.

BACKGROUND: We report a 61-year-old female with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) secondary to polycystic kidney disease (PKD) complicated by intradialytic hypertension (IDH). Increased sympathetic drive leading to increased stroke volume and/or vasoconstriction with an inappropriate increase in peripheral vascular resistance (PVR) has been postulated to be the cause of IDH.

CASE PRESENTATION: Attempts to control her blood pressure by reducing her goal weight; increasing dialysis times/ frequency and decreasing her sodium concentrate in the dialysis fluid were unsuccessful. Acting upon literature evidence suggesting renovascular disease as a cause of IDH, we referred her to an interventional radiologist for evaluation of the renal arteries. Selective angiogram of both renal arteries revealed right sided atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis (RAS) treated with insertion of a balloon mounted 6 mm stent and left sided fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) treated with 5 mm balloon angioplasty.

CONCLUSIONS: This case highlights the need for interrogating the renal arteries radiologically for a potential cause in difficult to control IDH and comments on the association between PKD and FMD that has not yet been reported.