Left renal infarction due to dissecting aneurysm of the renal arterial branch

Primary renal artery dissection is a rare condition that causes renal infarction and renovascular hypertension. We describe a case of a 48-year-old man who was admitted for left renal infarction due to a primary dissecting aneurysm of renal artery. He was diagnosed by a contrast enhanced abdominal CT scan and a renal angiography demonstrating a dissection at the branch of the left renal artery. He was treated with conservative medical management, including anticoagulation therapy. Forty-five primary renal artery dissections in 38 patients from previous reports were analyzed. Based on this analysis, many cases of primary renal artery dissection were male and had a high blood pressure. Primary renal artery dissection occurred at the right side (12 cases), left side (19), and bilaterally (7). The renal arterial branches were rarely involved in primary renal artery dissection. Assays of peripheral blood renin activity were performed in 15 patients, and all cases had a high value. Therefore, the present case is thought to be unique because he was a normotensive patient with normal plasma renin activity and the renal arterial branch was only dissected.