A comprehensive review of the literature on true aneurysms of the renal artery reveals prior reporting of 142 cases. It is a rare pathological entity which occurs with a frequency of less than 0.015%1; in the case of renal infarction it has been reported as 1.4%.2 The true incidence of hypertensive vascular disease in man is unknown, but the record of living subjects suggests that it is 24% or greater in the population ranging from the third to the seventh decade of life.3
A case report follows, in which an aneurysm of the renal artery was believed to have been responsible for infarction leading to renal hypertension. The hypertension was subsequently relieved by a nephrectomy.
Report of a Case
A 47-year-old man was seen as an outpatient on Dec. 30, 1955, complaining of severe right costovertebral angle pain, with radiation into the flank, of several days' duration.