Embolización de la arteria renal: serie de casos y revisión de la literatura

Introduction: Renal artery embolization (RAE) is a percutaneous procedure that occludes the renal ar-tery, with consequent ischemia of the vascular territory. The most common indications include hematuria and palliation for metastatic renal cancer. Despite technical development and progressive experience, studies include a small number of patients and few cases have been published in our country. Aim: To share our experience at Valparaíso-San Antonio Health Service and to review the existing literature. Materials and Method: We performed a retrospective descriptive review of medical records of patients with severe anemia due to hematuria managed with RAE, between 2012 and 2020. Subsequently, we conducted a literature search in PubMed, from inception until April 2020. Results: We included 9 pa-tients. There were 6 (66.7%) males and 3 (33.3%) females with a median age of 69 years (IQR = 18). Main cause of hematuria was advanced kidney cancer (7 patients). There were no complications and clinical success was achieved in all patients. Our literature search yielded 571 references, 24 met our eligibility criteria. The age of patients and the underlying causes of hematuria were varied. The lowest clinical success rate was 65%, however, 15 studies (62.5%) reported a success equal to or greater than 90%. Six studies reported more than 10% of patients with complications. Conclusion: Our results and the studies reviewed show that RAE appears to be safe and effective in the management of patients with severe anemia due to hematuria.