A proposed scoring system based in part on the extent of carotid intima-media thickness and carotid atherosclerotic plaque on carotid ultrasonography may help predict significant renal artery stenosis in patients undergoing coronary angiography, a study suggests.
Of 641 consecutive coronary angiography (CAG) patients, 60 had significant renal artery stenosis (RAS). A number of factors were found to be independent predictors of RAS, including significant coronary artery disease (odds ratio, 5.6), unilateral carotid atherosclerotic plaque (OR, 2.6), bilateral carotid atherosclerotic plaque (OR, 4.9), stage 3 or greater chronic kidney disease (OR, 4.8), use of four or more antihypertensive medications (OR, 4.8), carotid intima-media thickness (OR, 2.3), age of 67 years or older (OR, 2.3), and body mass index less than 22 kg/m2 (OR, 2.4), reported Dr. Yonggu Lee of Hanyang University Guri Hospital, Republic of Korea.
The report was published online in BMC Nephrology.
A scoring system developed based on these predictors had 83.3% sensitivity and 81.6% specificity for predicting significant renal artery stenosis, the investigators said (BMC Nephrology 2014 April 14 [doi:10.1186/1471-2369-15-60].
"The proposed model for predicting significant RAS ... may be a useful tool for deciding whether a definite diagnostic procedure is needed at the time of CAG," the investigators concluded.
The investigators reported having no disclosures.