Major spontaneous renal haemorrhage as an unusual complication of systemic amyloidosis

We report the case of a patient with systemic amyloidosis who developed a life-threatening spontaneous haemorrhage from an amyloid kidney. A review of the literature suggests that this is a rare complication of renal amyloidosis. However, the grossly abnormal renal angiography observed in our patient has previously been described in the literature. Therefore, spontaneous renal haemorrhage should be considered a risk in any systemic amyloid patient, especially in the differential diagnosis for those patients with the condition who present with an acute abdomen.