Medical therapy alone for the treatment of gas forming intrarenal abscess

Gas forming renal infections are severe, potentially lethal conditions. Gas formation in an intrarenal abscess is extremely rare. Formerly, these patients were uniformly treated by a combined medical and surgical approach. We describe 2 patients with intrarenal gas abscess who were successfully treated with antibiotics alone. We review the literature concerning intrarenal gas abscess and propose a pathophysiological mechanism for its formation as well as a treatment schema.