Renal ablation using bilateral renal artery embolization for treatment of resistant nephrotic syndrome

An 18-year-old man presented with severe nephrotic syndrome due to focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. His disease failed to remit with corticosteroids, calcineurin inhibitors, mycophenolate and rituximab. As his disease progressed with time, his anasarca became more resistant to high-dose combination diuretics and he developed multiple life-threatening bacterial infections. He was subjected to bilateral renal artery embolization with 99.8% alcohol to ablate his kidneys. Subsequently, the patient was maintained on hemodialysis and had normal serum albumin and did not have further infections. The procedure itself was simple and well tolerated, with only a minor post-embolization syndrome.