BACKGROUND Pulmonary thromboembolism is a clinical and pathophysiological condition caused by occlusion of pulmonary arteries by thrombotic embolus. Deep venous thrombosis needn't necessarily be evident. Acute renal insufficiency is a syndrome manifested by rapid decrease or even complete urinary retention, which may be due to obturation of renal arteries by a thrombus. The condition is clinically manifested by hematuria, oliguria, anuria and death due to uremia. METHODS The patient had a history of disease and a chest X-ray finding both irrelevant for establishing the working diagnosis. Blood gas analysis presented prominent hypoxemia with hyperventilation and ECG finding exhibited right heart overload, pointing to pulmonary thromboembolism. On the third day of treatment with heparin, the patient developed hematuria, oliguria and excessive elevation of nitrogen in blood as a sign of acute renal insufficiency, leading to fatal outcome. Autopsy revealed deep venous thrombosis of the left femoral vein, with massive pulmonary thromboembolism and thrombosis of both femoral arteries, inducing acute renal failure. CONCLUSIONS Although the patient had a typical radiologic presentation of pulmonary thromboembolism, treatment with heparin was initiated on the basis of his blood gas analysis and ECG findings. Deep venous thrombosis was not clinically evident and acute renal failure could not be explained during patient's lifetime. CONCLUSIONS This is a rare case of acute renal failure due to a rare occurrence of bilateral acute thrombosis of renal arteries.