Focal renal infarction after retroperitoneal lymph-node dissection: CT diagnosis

Retroperitoneal lymph-node dissection is the definitive operation for pathologic staging and treatment of nonseminomatous testicular cancer and paratesticular tumors of the spermatic cord. It involves meticulous dissection of all retroperitoneal node-bearing tissue at risk of harboring metastasis. When the dissection is performed properly, few complications occur. The most common serious intraoperative complication is injury to the renal vessels, which results in renal infarction. When such an injury involves a segmental vessel, the resulting renal infarct is segmental and usually not clinically evident. However, routine postoperative CT scans appear to be diagnostic.