Hypertensive kidney disease this situation, the kidney supplied blood by the narrowed renal artery suffers from inadequate blood flow, which in turn causes the size of the kidneys to decrease. Other consequences include arterial stiffening, which involves a gradual breakdown of elastic fibers and intima (the innermost layer of a blood vessel) thickening. An alternative mechanism of hypertensive nephropathy is prolonged glomerular hypertension and hence glomerular hyperfiltration. These can occur simultaneously but not necessarily. The idea is that hypertension results in sclerosis of the glomeruli which ultimately means reduced kidney function. As a compensatory mechanism, the unaffected nephrons (specifically, the preglomerular arterioles) vasodilate
Pulmonary artery Pulmonary artery A pulmonary artery is an artery in the pulmonary circulation that carries deoxygenated blood from the right side of the heart to the lungs. The largest pulmonary artery is the "main pulmonary artery." or "pulmonary trunk" from the heart, and the smallest ones are the arterioles, which lead to the capillaries that surround the pulmonary alveoli. In order of blood flow, the pulmonary arteries start as the pulmonary trunk or main pulmonary artery. The main pulmonary artery begins at the base of the right ventricle. It is short and wide—approximately in length and in diameter. The main pulmonary