Severe arteriosclerosis in the kidney of a cocaine addict.

Cocaine abuse has been associated with sudden cardiac death with coronary artery thrombosis with or without underlying vessel disease. Additional vascular beds thus far implicated in cocaine-associated arteriopathy include thoracic and abdominal aorta, and pulmonary, cerebral, and placental vessels; abnormalities include vasospasm, thrombosis, and accelerated atherosclerosis. We report the case of an adult male cocaine user with severe arteriosclerosis of renal vessels, and suggest that cocaine may also affect the renal vasculature.