Fibromuscular Dysplasia of Renal and Carotid Arteries

We report here two cases of fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD). The first case describes an asymptomatic 75-year-old man with FMD of the right internal carotid artery. The second case reports a 17-year-old man who presented with arterial hypertension caused by FMD of the left renal artery and was subsequently successfully treated by angioplasty. FMD is a rare nonatherosclerotic, noninflammatory angiopathy, which can involve almost every arterial vascular bed. It is a less common cause of stenosis of renal and carotid arteries. FMD can present with arterial hypertension when it involves renal arteries or with ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack when the disease affects the carotid or vertebral arteries. Many cases are asymptomatic and may be discovered incidentally. Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty should be used in patients with a stenosis of the renal artery causing arterial hypertension. On the contrary, conservative therapy should be chosen in patients with asymptomatic and extensive lesions of the carotid arteries.