An Atypical Presentation of a Patient with Renal Abscess

Renal and perirenal abscesses are two uncommon diagnoses that carry the potential for significant mortality, but those entities often present with vague and nonspecific symptoms as demonstrated with our patient. In earlier decades, case fatality rates for these conditions were as high as 39-50% [1]. More recent studies have shown mortality rates ranging from 0-7% [2]. Incidence is presently estimated at 1-10 per 10,000 admissions, and increases with predisposing conditions such as diabetes mellitus, obstructing stones, and other urinary tract abnormalities [3]. The most common risk factor for both conditions has consistently been shown to be diabetes mellitus [2,4].