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Diagnose This! (July 3, 2017)

Article
What’s your diagnosis?     ​   ​ ​   ​   ​ ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​ ​   ​ ​   ​ ​   ​ ​     ​   ​   ​ ​...
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Arkana Physician Spotlight: Dr. Boils

Article
Dr. Boils, Nephropathologist, Arkana Laboratories Doctors
Dr. Boils joined Arkana Laboratories in February 2011 as a renal pathology fellow and was brought on as an attending pathologist the following year. She graduated from Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI and completed pathology residency at UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX after which she became board certified in Anatomic Pathology. At Arkana, Dr. Christie Boils is involved with our Patient Education Committee, our Administration team and our Social Media team where she produces visual abstracts. Her most recent publication was a book chapter, Endocarditis-Associated Glomerulonephritis, in Bacterial Infections and the Kidney. When not diagnosing kidney biopsies,...
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Diabetic Nephropathy

Article
Protein Insudative Lesions in Diabetic Glomerulopathy Diffuse and nodular glomerulosclerosis is the classic appearance of diabetic glomerulopathy. However, diabetic nephropathy also includes so-called insudative lesions including “Fibrin Caps” and “Capsular Drops”. These lesions are characteristically seen in diabetics with nephrotic range proteinuria and are thought to be the result of ‘insudation’ of protein and other serum products into the space between the cell lining and its supporting basement membrane. In the case of the Fibrin Cap, the lesion is seen between the endothelium and the glomerular basement membrane (Blue Arrows, Jones Silver 400x). Fibrin cap is a misnomer because there...
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Chronic Interstitial Nephritis

Article
Chronic interstitial nephritis is a diagnosis made on renal biopsy when interstitial inflammation is present in a background of fibrosis (as depicted here). The differential diagnosis is broad but consists primarily of autoimmune-related and drug-induced etiologies. As opposed to acute interstitial nephritis, which is of relatively recent onset, chronic interstitial nephritis results from a long-standing inflammatory process. The distinction between these two morphologic patterns is made based on the appearance of the background interstitium. If the inflammation is located in areas of fibrosis, as is seen in this case of CIN due to Sjögren’s syndrome, the process is designated CIN...
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Cytomegalovirus

Article
The biopsy from this adult kidney transplant recipient shows features of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, including prominent enlargement (“cytomegalo-”) of tubular epithelial cells and their nuclei, along with small basophilic inclusions which expand the cell cytoplasm. An immunostain for CMV was also positive for viral antigen. In the kidneys, CMV shows tropism for tubular epithelial and glomerular endothelial cells. The gold standard for the diagnosis of tissue-invasive CMV disease remains the histopathologic identification of the characteristic cytoplasmic and/or nuclear viral inclusions or positive immunohistochemical detection of CMV viral antigens in tissue. Active CMV disease may be donor-derived (iatrogenic) or it may...
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FSGS Tip Lesion – Secondary

Article
The patient is a 64-year-old male with a history of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia, who presents with an increased creatinine of 1.8 mg/dl and proteinuria (UPCR 2.5 g/g). Serologic workup is completely negative. A renal biopsy was performed and shows nodular glomerulosclerosis (Fig 1) and arteriolar hyalinosis characteristic of diabetic glomerulopathy. Additionally, the glomeruli focally show areas of segmental glomerulosclerosis associated with endocapillary foam cells. These lesions are located at the take-off point of the proximal tubule (Fig 1) and reminiscent of the glomerular lesions seen in the tip variant of FSGS. Electron microscopy shows mesangial matrix expansion, mostly...
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Diagnose This! (June 26, 2017)

Article
What’s your diagnosis?     ​   ​ ​   ​   ​ ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​ ​   ​ ​   ​ ​   ​ ​     ​   ​   ​ ​...
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IgG Background Staining in Diabetic Nephropathy

Article
Immunofluorescence staining with IgG in a patient with diabetic nephropathy shows enhanced linear staining along the glomerular basement membranes and all other basement membranes. This includes the tubules and Bowman’s capsule. It also highlights the mesangial nodules. This is non-specific and not to be confused with anti-glomerular basement membrane antibody disease (anti-GBM, also called Goodpasture Syndrome). Diabetic staining is 1+ to 2+ and distributed along all basement membranes. If anti-GBM is also present in diabetic nephropathy, the IgG will be 3+ along the GBMs and the other basement membranes will have the background 1+ to 2+ staining. Sometimes this is...
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Hemoglobin

Article
The H&E photomicrographs show acute tubular injury with eosinophilic ‘beaded’ casts (arrow). Immunohistochemical stains were strongly positive hemoglobin in the casts (pictured here) while myoglobin was completely negative. These findings are consistent with hemoglobin cast nephropathy and indicate the presence of intravascular hemolysis. The morphologic lesions present in hemoglobin cast nephropathy are indistinguishable from myoglobin cast nephropathy without immunohistochemical analysis. It is important when staining for suspected hemoglobin cast nephropathy to stain for both hemoglobin and myoglobin as positive hemoglobin staining in a myoglobin cast is commonly present and considered nonspecific. However, the converse is not true and hemoglobin casts...
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Posted February 23rd 2021
Due to inclement weather last week, we are still experiencing shipping delays.  Please call us with any questions.