Randomized trials in hypertensive patients with atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis (ARAS) mostly did not reveal any significant difference between antihypertensive treatment and revascularization (by angioplasty or bypass surgery) in their effects on blood pressure or glomerular filtration rate. This unexpected conclusion reflects a fact that in addition to potentially reversible ischemia, some other factors which are not eliminated by technically successful revascularization take part in the decrease of renal function in ARAS, including cholesterol microemboli from atherosclerotic plaques, secondary focal segmental glomerulosclerosis and hypertensive nephroangiosclerosis. Moreover, these changes have been also found in the contralateral kidney without any stenosis. Scintigraphic studies confirmed that the individual kidney function was not related to the presence of ARAS, i.e., the glomerular filtration rate in the stenotic kidney was often equal to, or paradoxically even better than that in the kidney with normal renal artery. This has obviously important consequences for the indication of revascularization which should be based on measurement of the individual kidney function rather than overall renal function. A conservative treatment of ARAS should comprise ACE inhibitors or angiotensin II receptor antagonists, statins and acetylsalicylic acid. The long-term effect of such treatment on the progression of atherosclerotic nephropathy is now being evaluated in randomized trials.

        Key words: Atherosclerotic/ischemic nephropathy - Renal artery stenosis - Renovascular hypertension - Angioplasty - Randomized trials