RENAL BLOOD FLOW IN WOMEN WITH HYPERTENSION AND RENAL IMPAIRMENT

Abstract

Using the diodrast clearance. the renal blood flow was measured in 37 [female][female] having hypertension and renal im-pairment occurring separately and together. Simultaneous measurements were made of the plasma clearance of urea. In hypertensive [female][female] the renal blood flow is usually, though not always, below the avg. normal level. In [female][female] with a history of toxemia of pregnancy, the urea clearance and hence the glomerular filtration parallel closely, the renal blood flow. In [female][female] who have not had such toxemia antedating hypertension, the urea clearance and filtration remain normal in the face, of marked deficits in the renal blood flow. This maintenance of normal filtration with renal ischemia points to a constriction of the efferent glomerular arterioles, which also occurs in essential hypertension in men. Post-toxemic hypertension does not seem to exhibit the same efferent arteriolar constriction, and the resistance to per-fusion is apparently in the glomerular capillaries. Marked diminution in the renal blood flow may be found in patients with renal disease and in whom the blood pressure is normal.