Percutaneous transluminal laser-assisted angioplasty of a renal artery stenosis was performed in a 16-year-old woman with renovascular hypertension. The stenotic portion of the renal artery was predilated by delivering Nd-YAG laser energy to the terminal tip of a laser catheter. Although the luminal diameter did not increase sufficiently with laser angioplasty alone, it allowed passage of the balloon catheter and subsequent successful balloon angioplasty. Immediately after dilatation, the patient's blood pressure fell to normal, and plasma renin activity decreased. There were no serious complications. Thermal laser angioplasty seems to be an effective adjunct technique for the treatment of severe renal artery stenosis which does not allow initial passage of a balloon catheter.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A case of 17alpha-hydroxylase deficiency with symptoms mimicking testicular feminization.

A case of 17alpha-hydroxylase deficiency mimicking testicular feminization is reported. Different from the complete form of testicular feminization in which androgens are normal or elevated and end-organ insensitivity to androgens is supposed, this case had a negligible amount of androgens and responded to the injection of testosterone propionate with a positive nitrogen and phosphate balance.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Active and inactive renin-like enzymes in the arterial wall of the spontaneously hypertensive rat.

Renin-like enzyme(s) in the arterial wall of the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) were activated markedly by either acidic pH or treatment of proteolytic enzymes (trypsin and glandular kallikrein). The highest concentration of renin-like enzyme (active form) was localized in the renal artery (2.51 +/- 0.59 ng angiotensin I generated/mg of protein per h, mean +/- S.D.), followed by the mesenteric (1.58 +/- 0.31), the carotid (1.44 +/- 0.27) and the major aortic trunk (0.20 +/- 0.10), while the highest concentration of the inactive renin-like enzyme was localized in the major aortic trunk (0.97 +/- 0.18), followed by the carotid (0.72 +/- 0.41), the renal (0.71 +/- 0.31) and the mesenteric (0.60 +/- 0.29) arteries. In addition, the active renin-like activity from the mesenteric and the carotid arteries of SHR rats was higher significantly than that of age-matched normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats, despite a similar concentration of total renin-like enzyme of the corresponding arteries of both groups. These results suggest that increased interconversion of the inactive to the active renin-like enzymes in the arterial wall of SHR rats may result in local vasospasm through generation of angiotensin II, which may contribute in part at least to systemic hypertension of SHR rats.

Animals↗