A new study has found that angioplasty procedures for clearing blocked kidney arteries can also release thousands of tiny particles into the bloodstream that could impair kidney function.

Researchers of the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center (Winston-Salem, NC, USA) examined 28 angioplasty cases, using a protection device to temporarily block the vessel at the site of the angioplasty and stenting. After the procedure, and while the protection system was still in place, the researchers took a small sample of blood trapped by the protection device. The artery was then aspirated and flushed out to remove any remaining particles. Laboratory analyses found a mean of 2,000 particles captured per blood sample - many of them large enough to block the small vessels in the kidney. The study was published in the July 2007 issue of the Journal for Vascular Surgery.

"The more particles collected from a patient, the worse their kidney function," said lead author Matthew Edwards, M.D., M.S., an assistant professor of surgery. "Patients with higher levels of particles in their blood were more likely to have decreased kidney function after the procedure. Poor kidney function after kidney artery stenting has been previously demonstrated by our group to be associated with increased risk of heart attack, stroke, or death in the future."

The researchers theorize that some blockages are more prone to releasing particles than others, and that just putting the protection device in place releases particles that reach the kidneys. Further research is needed to examine this and other issues, including how well the protection device works and how to predict which plaques are more prone to release emboli.

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