Perirenal Hematoma Secondary to Polyarteritis Nodosa

Since the time Rokitansky first reported, in 1852, his new disease of blood vessels with a clinical and pathological study of three cases and Kussmaul and Maier, in 1866, provided a complete description, including histological features, of the disease which they termed periarteritis (polyarteritis) nodosa, several hundred cases have subsequently been described in the English literature and, including foreign sources, perhaps well over a thousand. Despite this ever-growing accumulation of case material, the etiology, pathogenesis, and treatment of this disease remain to be elucidated. Excellent reviews of current viewpoints regarding the nature of polyarteritis and characterization of clinical features, as gleaned from large series of cases, have been presented by Nuzum and Nuzum,1Mowrey and Lundberg,2and Rose and Spencer.3 Perirenal hematoma as a complication of polyarteritis nodosa was first reported by Schmidt,4in 1908. Since that time, 24 other cases5-28have appeared in the English and foreign literature.