Renovascular Hypertension and Seemingly Non-functioning Kidney Renewed Following Auto-transplantation: Pearls from Over Two Decades of Follow-up

Abstract

Introduction: Renovascular hypertension is among the significant causes of severe hypertension in pediatrics. Primary therapeutic approaches, including drug therapy or angioplasty, are not always feasible, and their effectiveness is variable. Meanwhile, several conditions leading to renal function impairment, including severe renal artery stenosis, may represent the respective kidney as an apparently non-functioning organ in various imaging modalities. We aim to demonstrate that the only organ in the body of a child with non-treated renovascular hypertension and severe renal artery stenosis is the ipsilateral non-functioning kidney. This kidney is alive and protected from hypertension by renal artery stenosis. Renal autotransplantation (RAT) can be superior to nephrectomy in such cases to protect from severe hypertension. This phenomenon can be confirmed by controlled hypertension and hypertrophy of transplanted kidney accompanied by shrinkage of contralateral compensatory hypertrophy. Case Presentation: We introduce a 14-year-old child with a history of diagnosed hypertension from seven years ago, presenting with resistance to four-drug therapy. Renal scintigraphy and intravenous pyelography found no activity pertaining to the relative kidney, and angiography exhibited severe stenosis of the renal artery with preserved blood circulation. Renal autotransplantation successfully restored the function of the respective kidney based on pre-and post-surgery intravenous pyelography and decreased the blood pressure to normal limits. Conclusions: Our experience shows we cannot mark a kidney as a "non-functioning" organ only on the basis of the preliminary findings from conventional imaging modalities, including intravenous pyelography, scintigraphy, and duplex ultrasound. Moreover, in cases that angioplasty is failed or is not feasible, renal auto-transplantation may be a safe alternative with promising outcomes in patients with renovascular hypertension, being able to restore the function of the kidney.