THE EFFECT ON THE KIDNEY OF BILATERAL SPLANCHNICECTOMY IN PATIENTS WITH HYPERTENSION

Abstract

Changes in urine and renal function were measured in 48 patients with hypertension treated by bilateral splanchnicectomy. In general changes in the kidneys were associated with changes in blood pressure. In those patients who had a significant and maintained decrease in blood pressure, urinary abnormalities decreased or disappeared, and the renal function, if it had been impaired, improved-in several cases it became entirely normal When hypertension was lowered in patients having normal renal function, the efficiency of the kidneys remained normal. When hypertension was not favorably influenced, renal function remained unchanged, or gradually became worse as would be expected in unoperated cases. These observations indicate that in cases of primary hypertension, satisfactory renal function is not dependent on the high blood pressure; that hypertension is not compensatory to measurable renal damage; that marked impairment of renal function may accompany hypertensive vascular disease, and that striking improvement of function follows relief of hypertension brought about by splanch-nicectonry.