Patient Nguyen Van Hoa (name changed, 43 years old, HCMC) was admitted to the hospital with severe pain in the lower back and abdomen. Before that, the patient had been in pain but thought it was a digestive problem. Only when the pain lasted for 8 hours without stopping and was accompanied by signs of fever did he go to the hospital.
At the hospital, Master Nguyen Hoai Vu, Department of Cardiology, Tam Anh General Hospital, evaluated the results of contrast-enhanced computed tomography, detecting blood clots blocking the renal artery in both the basal and terminal branches, leading to a reduction in renal blood flow of more than 70%, causing renal infarction.
This patient had a history of atrial fibrillation and was being treated with anticoagulants. However, 5 days before the renal infarction, the patient stopped taking the medication on his own, which was the main cause of the renal infarction.
If not treated promptly, renal infarction will lead to kidney damage, kidney failure and, most seriously, kidney necrosis that must be removed. Doctor Nguyen Hoai Vu emphasized that the "golden" intervention time for these cases is within 24 hours. Therefore, patients need to have thrombectomy performed immediately.
Doctors used the Solumbra technique, which is commonly used in emergency treatment of acute cerebral infarction to clear cerebral blood vessels blocked by blood clots.
The team used a smaller suction tip to reach the thrombus in the terminal branch, ensuring no perforation or bleeding of the renal capsule during the intervention. About 80% of the thrombus was suctioned out, increasing the flow rate and improving the perfusion area.
Solumbra technique helps resolve thrombosis to the terminal branches of the renal artery that were previously difficult to access with simple thrombectomy.
After just a few hours of intervention, the patient was able to walk easily. After 5 days of monitoring, the patient's health was stable, without any complications. The kidney was completely preserved, and the patient was discharged from the hospital.
Renal infarction is a rare ischemic event (incidence about 14/1,000), difficult to detect, with only 0.007% of cases detected clinically.
Doctor Nguyen Hoai Vu recommends that patients with atrial fibrillation should strictly follow the doctor's prescription and have regular check-ups to avoid dangerous complications. In addition to renal infarction, atrial fibrillation often causes the risk of stroke, cerebral infarction, peripheral vascular occlusion causing limb necrosis...
In 2019, atrial fibrillation was estimated to affect 33 million people worldwide. The actual number is likely to be even higher, as many people only discover they have atrial fibrillation when they have a stroke due to a blood clot or ischemia.
The incidence of atrial fibrillation is increasing, related to the aging population trend and the increase in risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, etc.
