Case Report

A Case of Acute Renal Failure due to Acute Bilateral Renal Cortical Necrosis

Eun Young Lee, Gyu Bock Choi, Duk Hee Kang, Kyun Il Yoon
Author Information & Copyright
Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Ewha Womans University, Korea.

Copyright ⓒ 1998. Ewha Womans University School of Medicine. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Published Online: Mar 31, 1998

Abstract

Acute bilateral renal cortical necrosis is a rare cause of acute reanl failure, occuring in about 2% of patients and it's prognosis is fatal. The pathophysiology of this condition is complex, but ultimately leads to the destruction of the renal cortex with sparing of the renal medulla and a thin tissue rim of under the capsule.

In this report we describe a 23-year-old female patient in whom the diagnosis was made using MR imaging during the acute initial phase of the disease. On T1-weighted images, the signal intensity of the renal cortex was increased, but the signal intensity of the renal cortex was demarcated by a rim of low signal intensity in the region of the corticomedullary junction. MR imaging is useful, noninvasive, and specific modality for an early diagnosis of acute bilateral renal cortical necrosis.

Keywords: Acute bilateral renal cortical necrosis