Renal infarction: CT diagnosis and correlation between CT findings and etiologies

The CT scans and the clinical records of 12 patients who had renal infarction were reviewed. The renal infarcts were classified as either focal or global. The CT findings were correlated with the etiologies of renal infarction. Embolism was the most common cause of renal infarcts that were multifocal with involvement of both kidneys. Trauma caused a unilateral global type of infarct. A case of sickle cell anemia presented with multiple "slit-like" focal infarcts and enlarged kidneys. Forty-seven per cent of infarcts demonstrated the cortical rim sign, 11% were associated with mass effect, 21% had a subcapsular fluid collection, and 6% had an abnormally thickened renal fascia.