RENAL ARTERIOVENOUS MALFORMATION MIMICKING HYDRONEPHROSIS

Color and spectral Doppler sonography revealed that a patient believed to have hydronephrosis actually had a renal arteriovenous malformatio n. Although rare, such a misdiagnosis could have serious implications. In the case described here, there was a coexisting carcinoma of the c olon, which required staging and could have led to complications for p ercutaneous intervention. This case illustrates that color Doppler son ography can be used to establish a diagnosis of arteriovenous malforma tion. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.