Simultaneous aortic and renal artery reconstruction for acute arterial occlusion in solitary kidney

A case is described of the onset of acute renal failure due to renal artery occlusion in a solitary kidney of a sixty-six-year-old woman. She had been treated for severe hypertension due to renal artery stenosis. An aortorenal bypass to revascularized the kidney was combined with repair of an abdominal aortic aneurysm. There was early and full recovery of renal function in the single kidney, and the patient was completely rehabilitated. Review of the literature shows that an aggressive surgical approach to the management of renal artery occlusion is usually followed by excellent results. The pre-existence of renal artery stenosis encourages the formation of a collateral arterial supply which maintains the nutrition of the kidney almost indefinitely, after renal artery occlusion. Revascularization will result in prompt recovery of renal function.