[Acute renal ischemia caused by medically reversible embolism of iatrogenic origin]

The authors present a case of acute renal ischemia resulting from embolism of its main artery on the occasion of the transient interruption of anticoagulant treatment for dental extraction, in a patient bearing a Björk-Shiley valvular prosthesis in the mitral position. Its progression is marked by the complete repermeabilisation of the artery under heparin therapy with complete recuperation of renal function. This classically exceptional observation suggests that the delay occurring between the initial obstruction and repermeabilisation does not alter the degree of renal distress, the estimation of which is unpredictable. The relative resistance of the kidney to ischemia and the occurrence of efficacious fibrinolysis suggests the possibility of therapy other than surgery. Prevention demands the maintenance of coagulants under guarantee of local hemostatic processes.