What Causes Renal Vascular Disease?
The cause of renal vascular disease will depend on the specific condition involved:
- Renal artery stenosis - Stenosis (blockage) of a renal artery may be caused by atherosclerosis (a build-up of plaque, which is a deposit of fatty substances, cholesterol, cellular waste products, calcium, and fibrin in the inner lining of an artery) or other conditions, such as fibromuscular dysplasia (a condition that weakens the walls of medium-sized arteries and occurs predominantly in young women of childbearing age), and Takayasu's arteritis (a rare inflammatory disease affecting the aorta and its branches, including the renal arteries). Atherosclerosis is the cause of about 80 percent to 90 percent of renal artery stenosis.
- Renal artery thrombosis - Formation of a thrombosis (clot) inside one of the renal arteries may occur as a result of trauma, infection, inflammatory disease, renal artery aneurysm, or fibromuscular dysplasia.
- Renal artery aneurysm - There are four types of renal artery aneurysms:
- Saccular - Bulges or balloons out only on one side of the artery. Saccular aneurysms may occur as a result of a congenital (present at birth) weakness of an artery wall or trauma. Atherosclerosis may also be a factor.
- Fusiform - Bulges or balloons out on all sides of the artery. Fusiform aneurysms most often occur with fibromuscular dysplasia.
- Dissecting - Weakened artery wall due to a tear in the inner layer of the artery wall.
- Intrarenal - Occurs on an artery inside the kidney. Intrarenal aneurysms may be congenital, or may result from trauma.
- Renal vein thrombosis: Conditions associated with the presence of renal vein thrombosis include trauma, compression of a renal vein by an adjacent structure such as a tumor or aneurysm, nephrotic syndrome (results from damage to the kidneys' glomeruli, the tiny blood vessels that filter waste and excess water from the blood and send them to the bladder as urine), pregnancy, administration of steroid medications, and use of oral contraceptives (birth control pills).
Risk factors
Risk factors for renal vascular disease include:
- Age
- Female gender
- Atherosclerosis
- Hypertension, particularly new onset of hypertension in an older person
- Smoking
- High cholesterol
- Diabetes
A risk factor is anything that may increase a person's chance of developing a disease. It may be an activity, such as smoking, diet, family history, or many other things. Different diseases have different risk factors.
Although these risk factors increase a person's risk, they do not necessarily cause the disease. Some people with one or more risk factors never develop the disease, while others develop disease and have no known risk factors. Knowing your risk factors to any disease can help to guide you into the appropriate actions, including changing behaviors and being clinically monitored for the disease.