Revascularization of kidney allograft after renal artery occlusion secondary to angioplasty

Arterial thrombosis causing complete occlusion is a rare event in the natural history of a transplanted allograft; an incidence of 1.4% has been reported. This condition usually results from technical problems, hyperacute rejection, severe atherosclerosis, or injury to donor or recipient arteries. The treatment of choice is transplant nephrectomy. We report a case of renal artery occlusion after a therapeutic radiological procedure and subsequent salvaging of the graft. The case report shows that an aggressive surgical approach toward restoring circulation is worth the effort.