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From March 1990 to May 1991, arterial stents were placed in seven patients because of a tight stenosis (five patients) or a total chronic occlusion (two patients) located in the infrarenal aorta. In one case, the aortic occlusion extended to both common iliac arteries. After balloon dilatation, aortic stents were successfully positioned in all cases. Bilateral common iliac recanalization and stent placement were performed in one case. No complications occurred in any of the patients. No complications occurred in any of the patients. Follow-up data were derived from clinical assessments and angiographic results. After a 15.1-month mean follow-up period (range 12-24 months), the seven aortic stents remained patent. Three iliac artery procedures were performed in two of the patients as well. Claudication recurred in three of the seven patients which was related to a common iliac occlusion (one case) or distal progression of atherosclerosis (two cases). Aortic stents seem to be suitable for treating failed angioplasty of aortic lesions but the procedure remains technically difficult when there is associated severe atherosclerosis of the proximal common iliac arteries. Nevertheless, considering the morbidity rate (0%) and the patency rate in this series, this technique could become an alternative to surgical treatment for infrarenal aortic occlusive lesions.

PTRA should be considered the first-line treatment for hypertension due to renal branch artery stenosis in fibromuscular disease.

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Restenosis and chronic occlusion in iliac artery stents can be treated with percutaneous interventional procedures; however, stenosis can still recur.

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A 60 year old hypertensive patient suffered several cerebral infarctions. A phaeochromocytoma was suspected because the excretion rates of vanillylmandelic acid and its methoxy derivatives were raised and the patient had hypertensive crises. No tumour was found, however, by 131mI-iodobenzylguanidine scintigraphy and computed tomography of the abdomen. Moreover, the enhanced orthostatic plasma catecholamine response suggested that the high excretion rates of catecholamine metabolites were more likely to be caused by the syndrome of raised catecholamines after cerebrovascular accidents than a phaeochromocytoma. A phaeochromocytoma should not be diagnosed within several months of cerebral infarction without first excluding the possibility of a hyperadrenergic state induced by cerebral infarction.