[Rupture of the renal artery following blunt trauma. Interest of angiography and therapeutic possibilities (author's transl)].

Isolated rupture and thrombosis of the renal artery is a rare form of traumatic injury : two cases are added by the authors to the seventy reports found in the English and French literature. Clinical signs calling for the diagnosis like hematuria or high blood pressure may be absent. To make an early diagnosis, every patient suffering from acute blunt trauma of the abdomen should be submitted immediately to intravenous urography. Angiography should follow immediately when no secretion is produced on one or both sides. If a lesion of the renal artery is discovered, surgical repair can be attempted when the delay does not exceed 12 to 24 hours from the time of the accident. The best technical modalities include segmental resection with thrombectomy, aortorenal by-pass or eventually renal autotransplantation.