Spontaneous Kidney Rupture: Two Case Reports With Unusual Presentations

Abstract

Two patients came to the emergency department with sudden-onset abdominal pain. The first case was a 20-year-old male; a contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) scan revealed a 17 cm x 7 cm hematoma in the abdomen and left retroperitoneal space. Furthermore, the left kidney was not visualized by CT. With an emergent diagnostic laparotomy, the etiology of the bleeding was determined to be left atrophic-hydronephrotic kidney rupture. Thus, a left nephrectomy was performed. The second case was a 38-year-old male with a history of chronic hypertension; a CT scan revealed a 7 cm x 6 cm left perirenal hematoma. A left nephrectomy was performed due to hemodynamic instability on the second day of follow-up. A pathology specimen revealed a 1-cm renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in the kidney. In case of hemodynamic instability, spontaneous kidney rupture requires immediate surgical intervention; its causes include atrophic-hydronephrotic kidney and RCC.