Renal cholesterol embolic disease. Case report and review of the literature.

Renal cholesterol embolization is a rare disease occurring usually in elderly men who had undergone an angiographic procedure or vascular surgery. We report a man who developed systemic cholesterol embolic disease and acute renal failure after coronary angiography. A review of the English literature for renal cholesterol embolic disease revealed a high incidence of eosinophilia (71%). Livedo reticularis and digital infarcts occurred in more than 30% of patients. Forty percent of patients required dialysis for acute renal failure of whom only one fifth recovered sufficient renal function to stop dialysis. The overall mortality was high at 64%. Skin, muscle and kidney biopsies remain the main tools for diagnosis.