Renal Angiography & Intervention

Renal angiography is an X-ray of the arteries that supply blood to the kidneys, using dye. This procedure is performed on patients with high blood pressure or with impaired kidney function. Before the procedure, a local anesthetic is given, and a needle is inserted into the artery, usually in the leg. A catheter (a long, narrow, flexible tube) is threaded into the artery through the main vessels of the pelvis, up to the abdominal aorta. This procedure is monitored by a fluoroscope, a special X-ray that projects the images on a TV monitor in real time. The dye is then injected into the renal artery through the catheter (a long, narrow, flexible tube), and images are taken.

If a narrowing of the artery is found, the patient may be a candidate for angioplasty (repair of the artery using a tiny catheter with a balloon attached to the end) or stenting (a tiny coil is expanded inside the blocked artery to open the blocked area and is left in place to keep the artery open).