Free guide · Scarlet Beast En español →
Renal artery stenosis: the narrowed kidney artery, high blood pressure that will not come down, the tests, the medicines, stents and surgery, and food
For adults who have been told they have renal artery stenosis, or whose high blood pressure is hard to control, and the family helping them. It passes on, by name, what the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK, part of the NIH) says: what it is and what causes it; who is more likely to get it; the signs, and when to think of it; what it can lead to; the tests; and the treatments, from lifestyle and medicines to angioplasty, stents and surgery, and food. NIDDK last reviewed its page in July 2014, so we date what may have changed. It builds the questions to ask and prints a card. Nothing is saved.
Right now
- Chest pain, sudden weakness or numbness on one side, a drooping face, trouble speaking, or severe trouble breathing? Call 911 now (ours).
- Thoughts of suicide, or all too much? Call or text 988, any hour, free (ours).
- Just started an ACE inhibitor or ARB? NIDDK says people with RAS should have their kidney function checked within a few weeks of starting one. Ask when (ours).
- Never stop or change a blood pressure medicine on your own. Call your team first (ours).
More help
- Kidneys on this site: High blood pressure and kidney disease · Medicines and your kidneys · When it’s your kidneys · How the kidneys work · Eating with kidney disease · Kidneys, bladder and urine: find the right page.
- Heart and blood vessels: High blood pressure · Blood pressure log · High cholesterol · When it might be a stroke · When you want to quit smoking.
- For you: Get ready for your appointment. In an emergency: Help right now (988, 911). All our free tools.
Kidneys, bladder or urine, and not sure this is the right page? The pages on this site for bladder infections, kidney stones, blood in the urine, bladder pain, bladder leaks, the prostate, kidney disease and bedwetting, on one list.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor or nurse has reviewed it. The facts were read on October 21, 2026 on NIDDK’s (NIH) page Renal Artery Stenosis, last reviewed in July 2014; NIDDK has no Spanish version of it. Where a line may have changed since 2014 (what studies had shown about surgery), we say it is from 2014. Ours: the 911 and 988 lines and the signs of a stroke; never stopping or changing a medicine on your own; asking whether RAS could be the cause, and when your kidney function will be checked; telling the team about your kidneys before a scan with contrast; the questions to ask; the card; the links to our other pages; and the order of the steps. What we left out: NIDDK’s 2014 numbers for normal and high blood pressure (they come from a 2014 guideline, and newer guidelines use other numbers: ask your team what your goal is), the American Heart Association definition it quotes, the name of the blood thinner it gives as an example, its section on clinical research, its references, and the other pages it links to, which we did not read. Nothing you tick or type here is saved or sent.