IMAGES IN MEDICINE
Aortoiliac arteriovenous fistula masquerading as deep vein thrombosis
1 Renal Unit, Lister Hospital, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, UK
2 Radiology Department, Lister Hospital, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, UK
Correspondence to:
Dr E C Jolly, Renal Unit, Lister Hospital, Coreys Mill Lane, Stevenage, Hertfordshire SG1 4AB, UK; elainejolly@yahoo.co.uk
Keywords: arteriovenous fistula; deep vein thrombosis; renal failure
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
A male smoker in his 60s with hypertension and hyperlipidaemia presented with progressive swelling of his left leg, abdominal discomfort and oliguria. He was obese and had an extensive left deep vein thrombosis (DVT) clinically. Blood tests revealed acute renal failure, and the clinical suspicion was of a urological malignancy causing an obstructive nephropathy and DVT. A CT scan showed a large (9.5x9.8 cm) infra-renal abdominal aortic aneurysm, which had a fistulous connection to the left common iliac vein (fig 1). Retrograde filling of the venous system and obstruction to venous return led to engorgement of the left leg, mimicking a DVT (fig 2). The renal arteries were patent, but contrast was also seen filling the renal veins with no cortical renal enhancement, suggesting retrograde high-pressure flow, with obstruction to venous return and consequent venous infarction, as a mechanism for acute renal failure. The
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
