Delayed Presentation of Arteriovenous Fistula and Pseudoaneurysms in a Renal Transplant Patient 10 Years After Percutaneous Allograft Biopsy

Abstract

A 51-year-old man was admitted with microscopic hematuria at 10 years after living donor renal transplantation. In order to distinguish between acute tubular necrosis and acute rejection, a graft biopsy was performed under ultrasound guidance at 1 month posttransplantation. Doppler sonography revealed 3 pulsatile cystic masses and an arteriovenous fistula (AVF) in the lower kidney pole. Selective transplant renal angiography revealed 3 pseudoaneurysms with an AVF supplied by a lobular artery in the lower pole. The diagnosis was AVF with pseudoaneurysm, which developed secondary to percutaneous renal allograft biopsy. Interventional treatment was performed because of the high risk for pseudoaneurysm rupture. The AVF and pseudoaneurysms were treated successfully by percutaneous transluminal embolization; renal function remained stable after embolization.

Percutaneous biopsy of the transplanted kidney has become the keystone of diagnosis and management of kidney transplant diseases.1 Arteriovenous fistulas (AVF) and pseudoaneurysms are common after renal biopsy.2 and 3 Herein we have reported a case of vascular complications discovered 10 years after kidney allograft biopsy, in which interventional therapy for AVF and pseudoaneurysms was effective.