Letter to the editor: spontaneous renal haemorrhage in end-stage renal disease

Wünderlich's syndrome in a haemodialysis patient

Wünderlich's syndrome, or spontaneous renal haemorrhages, are rare, atraumatic, intraparenchymal and perirenal haemorrhages, which are difficult to diagnose and can be potentially fatal.Patients who are dialysis-dependent are at an increased risk of bleeding, due to an association between uraemia and platelet dysfunction; for this reason, the use of double antiplatelets is avoided in this cohort. Case studies exist demonstrating spontaneous bleeds in these patients.Fish oil is used increasingly within medicine: however, it is known to interfere with platelet aggregation, therefore, theoretically increasing the tendency to bleed. The topic remains under debate, with systemic reviews refuting a correlation between intraoperative and postoperative bleeding and fish oil consumption. There is, however, an absence of literature on the adverse effects of fish oil when taken in large quantities.This case study explores the case of a patient who had a spontaneous renal bleed following a large, self-medicated dose of fish oil.

Spontaneous perirenal hemorrhage in hemodialysis patient treated with selective embolization: A case series and review of the literature

INTRODUCTION

Spontaneous perirenal hemorrhage (SPH) or Wunderlich syndrome, is a rare but potentially life-threatening condition. It is characterized by an unexpected bleeding in the kidneys and usually presents as an abdominal pain. Angiography and more recently selective renal arterial embolization are emerging as effective modalities for the diagnosis and treatment of SPH. In this article, we report a total of three cases of SPH in hemodialysis (HD) patients.

METHODS

This is the experience of diagnosis and treatment of SPH in HD patients.

FINDINGS

All three were female, between 37 and 54 years of age and were undergoing HD for end stage renal disease (ESRD). Two of patients presented with left flank or abdominal pain after termination of HD therapy, while the third patient presented with left abdominal pain during the dialysis session. All patients received anti-coagulation therapy for HD, but no abnormal levels of coagulation index were found. These patients were diagnosed using CT and two of them were diagnosed with acquired cystic kidney disease (ACKD). Selective renal arterial embolization was performed in the case of active bleeding.

DISCUSSION

We are aware that HD patients have elevated risk of bleeding related complications, additionally the presence of an acute abdominal pain increases the suspicion of SPH as a possible cause. ACKD can be considered one of the possible risk factors for SPH in long-term HD patients. Interventional treatment for kidney injury is useful and safe for active bleeding in most cases.