Embolization for medically induced renal hemorrhage

  Medical renal hemorrhage is a common complication of invasive investigations and treatments such as percutaneous nephrolithotomy for lithotripsy, renal puncture biopsy, and extracorporeal lithotripsy. The incidence of serious medical renal hemorrhage after percutaneous nephrolithotomy is 1.06%, the incidence of microscopic hematuria and carnivorous hematuria after renal puncture biopsy is 5% to 7%, and the incidence of lesions such as renal artery pseudoaneurysm or arteriovenous fistula is 1% to 18%, and the mortality rate due to bleeding from ruptured pseudoaneurysm and persistent bleeding from arteriovenous fistula is about The mortality rate due to ruptured bleeding from pseudoaneurysm and arteriovenous fistula is about 0.02%-0.1%.  The clinical manifestations of medically induced renal hemorrhage are diverse. Based on the clinical symptoms of renal hemorrhage, serious medically induced renal hemorrhage is categorized into three types: Type I Explosive type: clinical manifestations of short time, large amount of bleeding, bleeding volume of 400 ml or more, or significant changes in hemodynamics and blood routine; Type II Intermittent type: intermittent active bleeding for more than 2 times; Type III Continuous type: small amount of bleeding per unit of time, although the symptoms do not improve significantly after treatment, and the duration of bleeding. Those whose symptoms do not improve significantly after treatment and last for ≥72 hours. Severe renal hemorrhage can lead to serious adverse consequences such as hemorrhagic shock, renal insufficiency, renal failure, and even death, which often leads to doctor-patient disputes.  Early diagnosis and treatment of severe medically induced renal hemorrhage is the key to avoid unnecessary kidney injury and nephrectomy. Since most renal hemorrhage is self-healing, most patients chose conservative treatment in the past, however, some patients delayed the disease and increased the amount and number of blood transfusion due to conservative treatment, which increased the risk of renal kinetic injury and renal failure, and even led to death. Numerous clinical studies have concluded that the above three types of severe medical-derived renal hemorrhage cases should be diagnosed and treated early with surgical or interventional imaging.  DSA is the gold standard for the diagnosis of renal vascular injury. DSA is a four-dimensional examination of blood vessels through continuous subtraction images, which can not only effectively display the bleeding lesion, but also provide effective treatment during the examination. that can provide favorable surgical conditions. We believe that all patients with medically induced renal hemorrhage without severe renal insufficiency or shock are recommended to be given timely imaging to avoid delay. With the rapid development of imaging equipment and interventional radiology, DSA-guided superselective renal artery embolization has become a new option for the treatment of medically induced renal hemorrhage because of its minimally invasive, effective and reproducible features.  The steps of super-selective renal arteriography + bleeding artery embolization are as follows: puncture through the right femoral artery, placement of a 5F arterial sheath, current abdominal aortogram to clarify the presence of the collateral renal arteries, and then double renal arteriography using a 5FCorbra or Yashiro catheter, respectively, to clarify the location of the bleeding, and application of a microcatheter for super-selective lesion angiography and embolization. The embolization materials were PVA pellets, gelatin sponge, Glubran gel, and spring steel ring. After embolization, the angiography is reviewed to clarify the embolization effect and avoid the involvement of multiple vessels in renal hemorrhage. the main imaging manifestations of renal artery hemorrhage on DSA angiography are as follows: ① simple pseudoaneurysm; ② pseudoaneurysm with arteriovenous fistula; ③ pseudoaneurysm with contrast extravasation; ④ renal arteriovenous fistula; ⑤ vessel rupture with contrast extravasation; ⑥ renal periarterial varices.  The application of embolization material for renal artery embolization depends on the embolization location of the embolized vessel and the area to be embolized, the diameter of the vessel and other factors. Embolization materials must have good passability and reliable embolization effect to ensure short-term and long-term efficacy. Among them, PVA particles and spring steel ring are the more commonly used embolic materials. Currently, the commonly used embolic agents are gelatin sponge particles, PVA particles, metal spring steel ring and biogel.  Gelatin sponge is a medium-term embolization material, usually suitable for low bleeding rate, its advantages are inexpensive, not easy to cause ischemic necrosis, and can be degraded and recanalized. Its embolization principle, in addition to mechanical embolization, the sponge-like framework can be filled with red blood cells, causing platelet agglutination and fibrin deposition in the blood vessel, rapidly forming a thrombus and playing the role of embolization of blood vessels. The author believes that gelatin sponge particles are prone to short-term recanalization, so they are not recommended for patients with large bleeding volume and complicated conditions.  PVA particles are permanent embolic materials with reliable embolic effect. After entering the blood vessel, as fibroblasts grow in, a large amount of fibrous connective tissue forms, thrombus forms and mechanizes, thickening the vessel wall, narrowing or occlusion of the lumen is difficult to recanalize. It is suitable for patients with most simple pseudoaneurysms, especially those with terminal small artery injury, and can achieve subsegmental or even intralobular embolization, greatly preserving normal kidney tissue. If the diameter of the injured vessel is large and the blood flow is rapid, the PVA particles will be carried away by the blood flow and affect the treatment effect.  Spring coils and microspring coils are used in cases of renal hemorrhage where the diameter of the injured vessel is large and the blood flow is rapid. After embolization of the main trunk of the target vessel with spring coils to effectively slow down the blood flow, PVA particles are applied to embolize the distal end of the bleeding artery with good results. In cases where the target vessel is small, a microcatheter can be used to access the proximal end of the target vessel super-selectively and embolize the target vessel with a microspring ring.  Glubran gel can be used in cases of renal hemorrhage where the vessel is relatively small and microcatheter superselection is difficult. Because of the higher risk of ectopic embolization using PVA embolization vessels, Glubran glue has better passability when in liquid form, but its injection technique is demanding and expensive, which limits its application.  The embolization precautions: ① Firstly, abdominal aortography is performed to understand the alignment of both renal arteries and to exclude the presence of collateral renal arteries and renal pericyclic arteries in the affected kidney from participating in the bleeding; ② After the target vessel is clearly identified, after the renal artery trunk imaging, the coaxial catheter technique is used to insert the microcatheter as close to the target vessel artery as possible for imaging, and the target vessel is super-selected as much as possible during embolization to ensure effective hemostasis while minimizing the embolization of normal renal tissue; ③ For renal injury bleeding ③ For kidney injury with mild bleeding, PVA particles can be used alone. It should be noted that the embolization particles should be shaken well in the syringe after adding the contrast agent to facilitate injection into the microcatheter and prevent blockage of the microcatheter or misembolization by reflux. For pseudoaneurysm, if the aneurysm diameter is less than 15 mm, embolization of the distal vessels of the aneurysm with PVA pellets and embolization of the target vessels with spring coils; if the aneurysm diameter is >15 mm and there is vortex in the lumen, first embolization with 350-560 μm PVA is used to slow down the vortex and reduce the volume of the lumen, and then embolization of the main trunk of the bleeding artery with spring coils. After slowing down the shunt, the blood supply artery is embolized with a spring steel ring until the blood flow is stopped in the embolized vessel.  Super-selective renal artery embolization is a safe and effective method for the treatment of severe medically induced renal hemorrhage. PVA pellets, gelatin sponges, spring steel rings and other embolization materials are reliable and easy to operate, and are good embolization materials for embolization of renal hemorrhage.