Percutaneous rheolytic thrombectomy for treatment of acute renal-artery thrombosis.

PURPOSE: We present our experience with percutaneous rheolytic treatment with the AngioJet thrombectomy catheter for acute renal-artery thrombosis. CASE REPORT: A 63-year-old male patient with renal-artery thrombosis presented 48 hours after the onset of acute nonradiating flank pain. Thrombosis was documented by CT angiography, 99mTc-DTPA, and digital subtraction angiography. A percutaneous thrombectomy was performed with the AngioJet catheter. At the end of the procedure, the arterial lumen was patent, and no underlying stenosis or other deformity of the arterial wall was found. Thus, the cause of the obstruction was considered to be an embolus. After the procedure, urokinase was given to prevent distal occlusions from emboli that could have escaped mechanical thrombectomy. Heparin was also administered. The patient was released from the hospital with a patent renal unit and ameliorated serum creatinine concentration.
CONCLUSION: We propose the use of the AngioJet thrombectomy catheter for the percutaneous treatment of acute renal-artery thrombosis.