A rare case of renal infarction caused by infective endocarditis.

BACKGROUND

A 29-year-old man presented to the emergency department of a general hospital complaining of sudden onset left loin pain, radiating to the groin, which had started 48 h previously. He described no urological symptoms and had no medical history of note.

INVESTIGATIONS: Physical examination, electrocardiography, dipstick testing of urine, radiography of the chest and abdomen, blood tests (white blood cell count and serum urea, creatinine, sodium, potassium and C-reactive protein levels), CT of the renal tract, blood and urine cultures, renal angiography, thromboembolic blood panel, urine and blood tests for illicit drugs, transthoracic echocardiography, transesophageal echocardiography, renal ultrasonography.

DIAGNOSIS: Infective endocarditis resulting in thromboembolic unilateral renal infarction.

MANAGEMENT: The patient was started on anticoagulation therapy with low-molecular-weight heparin and treated with intravenous gentamicin and benzylpenicillin for 4 weeks. He was seen in an outpatient clinic 4 weeks after discharge, at which time serum urea and creatinine levels and repeat ultrasonography of the renal tract confirmed normal renal function. He will be followed up regularly by cardiologists and urologists, at 6 weeks initially, and every 6 months to 1 year thereafter by his family physician.