Acute renal infarction secondary to left ventricular thrombus, masquerading as a renal calculus--a case report and brief review of literature.

Acute embolic renal infarction is an entity that is often misdiagnosed as a renal calculus because of similar presenting symptoms. This leads to delay in the initiation of treatment and to increased morbidity. Few case reports exist relating cardiac emboli to acute renal infarction. The authors present a patient with a renal embolism secondary to left ventricular thrombus. A brief review of the literature highlighting the importance of clinical suspicion in making an accurate diagnosis, the utility of various diagnostic studies, and comparison of various treatment options is presented.