Rhabdomyolysis and acute myoglobinuric renal failure. Complications of inferior vena cava ligation.

A 50-year-old man underwent inferior vena cava ligation because of repeated pulmonary emboli despite adequate heparin therapy. His immediate postoperative course was complicated by the development of massive edema in the lower extremities, leading to a compromised arterial blood flow with the resulting ischemic myopathy and acute myoglobinuric renal failrue. Although massive pooling of body fluids in the lower extremities with fatal consequences has been reported as an immediate complication of the sudden mechanical obstruction of the venous return, to our knowledge this is the first case of myoglobinuric acute renal failure due to rhabdomyolysis reported in association with inferior vena cava ligation.