Abstract

PIMENTEL, Ana et al. Add insult to injury: An unusual cause of renovascular hypertension. Port J Nephrol Hypert [online]. 2014, vol.28, n.4, pp.341-347. ISSN 0872-0169.

Resistant hypertension is a clinical condition that needs an aetiological investigation with the purpose of establishing if there is a secondary cause that can be treated. The authors describe a rare cause of secondary hypertension. We report a case of a 40-year-old Caucasian man followed in an outpatient nephrology clinic, since January 2012, with renal insufficiency and hypertension known for a year. An initial aetiological study was performed, including an endocrinological study, which revealed a secondary hyperaldosteronism, a renal ultrasound that further revealed a diminished left kidney and a renal artery Doppler ultrasound that described a normal arterial blood flow. The patient was admitted in the nephrology department presenting malignant hypertension that included hypertensive retinopathy with retinal haemorrhage. At the time, the patient initiated several convulsive crises and had to be admitted in the intensive care unit, needing invasive mechanical ventilation. To exclude renovascular disease causing the clinical scenario, a computed tomography angiography was performed, showing extensive thrombosis of the distal aorta involving at least the renal left artery. The immunologic study showed positive antiphospholipid antibodies, anticardiolipin antibodies and anti-beta2-glycoprotein 1 antibodies.

Keywords : Antiphospholipid antibodies; Asherson’s syndrome; distal aorta thrombosis; renovascular hypertension; secondary hypertension.

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