• Rainer U Pliquett, Daniel Radler, Alexander Tamm, Daniel Greinert, Robin Greinert, and Matthias Girndt.
• Department of Internal Medicine II, University Hospital Halle, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Saale, Germany. rainer.pliquett@medizin.uni-halle.de.
• J Med Case Rep. 2014 Jan 1; 8: 289.

IntroductionCardiovascular comorbidities regularly determine renal function. We report a case of acute kidney injury (Acute Kidney Injury Network stage 3) due to an intermittent third-degree atrioventricular block, which had not been diagnosed before.Case PresentationA 76-year-old Caucasian man with liver cirrhosis due to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and type-2 diabetes was cognitively impaired and had reduced vigilance presumably caused by hepatic encephalopathy and/or Alzheimer dementia. Within 2 years, two hospitalizations occurred for syncope attributed to orthostatic failure and hypovolemia. During the last hospitalization, oliguric acute kidney injury occurred. Sonography ruled out a post-renal cause. His renal resistive index was 1.0; his heart rate was below 50 beats per minute. After cessation of beta-blocker therapy, Holter electrocardiogram showed a new intermittent third-degree atrioventricular block with pauses for less than 3 seconds. Pacemaker insertion resolved his acute kidney injury, despite resumption of beta-blocker therapy. During four months of follow-up, syncope has not occurred, and vigilance was stable. However, his renal resistive index of 1.0 remained.ConclusionsHere, typical neurologic symptoms of bradycardia were misclassified. Diagnostic work-up of oliguric acute kidney injury revealed intermittent third-degree heart block. The pathomechanism of acute kidney injury relates to relevant bradycardia and increased vascular stiffness attenuating arterial diastolic renal blood flow.

23 keywords...

hide…