Percutaneous revascularization for atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis: a meta-analysis

- OBJECTIVE: This study investi-gates whether medication therapy alone is as ef-fective and safe as percutaneous revasculariza-tion (PR) in patients with atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis (ARAS).MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Embase, PubMed, and Cochrane Library databases were searched from their inception to July 31, 2021, for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) report-ing PR for ARAS. RevMan 5.3 was employed to analyze the retrieved articles.RESULTS: Eight studies with a total of 2,225 ARAS patients were included in this analysis, demonstrating that PR and medication therapy alone had a similar effect on both systolic [mean difference (MD)= 0.19, 95% CI: -1.64-2.02] and di-astolic blood pressure (MD=-0.44, 95% CI: -1.68-0.80). Meanwhile, there were no differences in all-cause mortality [Odds ratio (OR) = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.70-1.14], stroke (OR = 0.84, 95% CI: 0.55-1.31), congestive heart failure (OR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.67-1.19), and perioperative complications (OR = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.68-1.12).CONCLUSIONS: Medication therapy alone is as effective and safe as PR.