Assessment of Renal Artery Stenosis and Renovascular Hypertension by Contrast Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging: A Pilot Study

Renovascular hypertension (RVH) is a potentially curable disease affecting 0.5-5 percent of patients with hypertension. The current diagnostic work-up of RVH involves a complex algorithm which includes doppler ultrasound, captopril renography and conventional angiography. Because of the expense, risk and inconvenience of this workup, patients may not be correctly diagnosed.

Advances in MR technology present the opportunity to develop a single comprehensive test. This would combine an MR angiogram that provides anatomic information about the renal arteries, and an MR renogram that provides information about the functional impact of a stenosis as a cause of hypertension. Our main purpose is to test MR renography with and without an oral angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) combined with MR angiography against the reference standard of captopril radionuclide renography. Secondary goals of this study are to test whether hypoxia within ischemic kidneys affected by RVH is detectable by T2 weighted (Blood oxygen level dependent or BOLD) MRI. This is considered of value since such a test of oxygenation would further shorten and simplify the diagnostic MR test. Information gained from this study could lead to important changes in the diagnostic and pathophysiologic understanding of RVH.