Clinical Trial: MRI to Detect Embolism Following Angiography and Angioplasty-Stenting of the Renal Artery

Study Status: Completed
Recruit Status: Completed
Study Type: Interventional




Official Title: Evidence of Procedural Embolism Complicating Renal Artery Stenting

Brief Summary:

This study will use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to picture the kidney and renal arteries (arteries that supply blood to the kidney) in patients scheduled for kidney artery angiogram and angioplasty/stenting procedures. An angiogram is a way of taking pictures of arteries that shows areas of narrowing caused by atherosclerosis-a buildup of plaque on the vessel wall. Angioplasty/stent is a treatment procedure in which a balloon-tipped catheter is inserted in the artery and advanced to the area of blockage to open the vessel, increasing blood flow to the kidney. A permanent metal tube (stent) may or may not be put in place to maintain the opening. During either of these invasive procedures, small pieces of plaque can break off and travel in the blood to lodge elsewhere in the body. This is called embolization. Lodged in the kidney, the embolus can impair kidney function. Currently, these emboli cannot be detected. A new way of visualizing the kidneys that allows detection of emboli may reveal whether material has moved to the kidneys and predict if there will be any kidney damage.

Patients 21 years of age and older with suspected kidney artery disease scheduled for invasive angiographic evaluation in NIH protocol 95-H-0047 may be eligible for this study.

Participants will be assigned to one of two study groups, based on the angiogram findings and the decision to have the angioplasty/stent procedure. Participants in both groups will have baseline MRI scans up to 2 weeks before the invasive procedure (angiogram with or without angioplasty/stent) and again within a day after the procedure. Patients who undergo angioplasty/stent will have another MRI study within about a month following the procedure.

MRI uses a magnetic field and radio waves to produce images of body tissues