Clinical Approach to Renal Artery Thromboembolism

Abstract

Objective: We aimed to reveal the clinical, laboratory, radiological findings of infarction in the renal artery and its branches due to thrombosis, its effects on renal functions and the measures to be taken. Materials and Methods: The study sample included 8 patients who were admitted to the emergency department of Kutahya University of Health Sciences Evliya Celebi Training and Research Hospital between 2018-2020, and who were hospitalized with the diagnosis of acute renal infarction. Patients were retrospectively analyzed with clinical findings, CT angiography-abdomen, clinical observations, prognosis and complications. Results: Of the patients, 5 were male and 3 were female. The mean age was 55.13 (29-69) years. One patient presented with bilateral renal infarction, while 7 had unilateral renal infarction. The etiology of the patients was idiopathic in 2, atrial fibrilation (AF) in 3 patients, and atherosclerosis in 3 patient. The mean serum creatinine of 1.24 (0.7-3.2) mg/dl and the mean blood leukocyte level of 16925 (11000-26000) mcL were determined. The mean length of hospital stay was 4.6 (3-7) days. Anticoagulant therapy was initiated in all patients for risk of recurrent renal infarction and thromboembolism. Conclusion: We revealed that renal infarction, rarely seen in urology practice, has nonspecific clinical findings; therefore, it should be kept in mind in differential diagnosis for patients presenting with sudden-onset oblique or abdominal pain, and that diagnosis can be made using contrast-enhanced CT. We determined that AF and valvular heart diseases which cause atherosclerosis and cardiac thrombosis play an important role in the etiology.