Acute arterial occlusion - kidney

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Kidney anatomy

Kidney - blood and urine flow

Kidney blood supply

Acute arterial occlusion of the kidney is a sudden, severe blockage of the artery that supplies blood to the kidney.

Acute renal arterial thrombosis; Renal artery embolism; Acute renal artery occlusion; Embolism - renal artery

The kidneys are very sensitive to the amount of blood that flows to them. The main artery that supplies blood to the kidney is called the renal artery. Any reduction of blood flow through the renal artery can impair kidney function. If it continues, a complete blockage of blood flow to the kidney often results in permanent kidney failure.

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Acute arterial occlusion of the renal artery can occur after injury or trauma to the abdomen, side, or back. Blood clots that travel through the bloodstream (emboli) can lodge in the renal artery.

The risk of renal artery blockages increases in people who have certain heart disorders, such as mitral stenosis or atrial fibrillation, which make them likely to form blood clots.

A narrowing of the renal artery, called renal artery stenosis, increases the risk of a sudden blockage because a clot forms in the narrowed artery.

Review Date: 06/08/2011
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; and Herbert Y Lin, MD, PhD, Nephrologist, Massachusetts General Hospital; Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org).