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Currently filtering by tag: Acute kidney injury

Light Chain Cast Nephropathy

Article
A 75-year-old female is found to have a creatinine of 4.0 mg/dL on a routine laboratory examination. At the hospital, a CT scan shows lytic lesions within the skull. A SPEP shows an IgG kappa monoclonal protein. A bone marrow biopsy shows 5% plasma cells. A kidney biopsy is requested to look for monoclonal gammopathy of renal significance. Figure 1 shows a normal glomerulus. Figure 2 shows severe interstitial fibrosis. Figures 3 & 4 show abnormal, PAS negative "stiffened" casts with cellular reaction and fracture. Figures 5 & 6 show kappa and lambda immunofluorescence, respectively. This is a case of...
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Disease Week: C3 Glomerulonephritis

Article
C3 glomerulonephritis is a recently described entity which is due to dysregulation in the alternative complement pathway. Patients typically present with hematuria and/or proteinuria in the face of persistently low serum levels of C3. The annual incidence of biopsy-proven disease is 1 to 2 per million with both sexes affected equally. The median age of diagnosis is 21 years of age, but there is a second spike after the age of 50 due to paraprotein-associated disease. The most common glomerular disease pattern is a membranoproliferative pattern. The hallmark of the disease is dominant C3 staining on immunofluorescence which is defined...
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Art of Medicine: Lysozyme Nephropathy

Article
The painting above shows acute tubular injury with numerous intracytoplasmic inclusions within proximal tubular epithelium, which can be seen in lysozyme-associated nephropathy.  Lysozyme-induced nephropathy is a rare cause of acute tubular injury seen in patients with hematologic malignancies, most commonly with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) and acute monocytic leukemia (Santoriello et al, 2017).   Malignancy associated overproduction of lysozyme can lead to acute kidney injury and proteinuria.  Lysozyme is freely filtered by the glomerulus and reabsorbed by the proximal tubular epithelium.  While this happens at a low level physiologically, over-reabsorption of lysozyme induces toxic acute tubular injury. Lysozyme-induced nephropathy is one...
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Scleroderma

Article
The patient is a 32-year-old African American female who presents with hypertensive urgency, positive ANA, positive anti-RNA polymerase III antibody, schistocytes on the peripheral smear, forgetfulness, and a creatinine of 2. On physical examination, the skin is tight and thickened along the face ("masked face"), back, and proximal arms. Urinalysis shows 250 mg of proteinuria and no active urine sediment. Serologies for c-ANCA, p-ANCA, dsDNA, and anti-GBM are negative. The patient has scleroderma renal crisis. Figure 1 shows an ischemic glomerulus. Figure 2 shows moderate interstitial fibrosis. From low power, the intimal edema and intimal proliferation within the arteries is...
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Twitter Poll (April 3, 2019)

Article
ANSWER: C IgAN is the most frequent diagnosis seen in kidney biopsies from patients with renal failure and history of IBD. In a retrospective study performed by Ambruzs et al., the prevalence of IgAN was 24%, followed by TIN (19%), arterionephrosclerosis, ATI, proliferative GN and MCD. Reference: Ambruzs JM, et al. The histopathologic spectrum of kidney biopsies in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. 2014 Clin J Am Soc Nephrol; 9(2):265-270.
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Cryoglobulinemic Glomerulonephritis

Article
The patient is a 60-year-old male who presents with proteinuria, hematuria, and a creatinine of 2.8 mg/dL. He was in his normal state of health until 2 weeks ago when he noticed he was having trouble putting on his shoes. Serologies show low complements and an albumin of 2.3 g/dL. Serologies for ANA, c-ANCA, p-ANCA, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C are negative. No monoclonal spike is found on serum electrophoresis. Figure 1 shows accentuation of lobulation with both mesangial and endocapillary hypercellularity. This is a membranoproliferative pattern. Figure 2 shows a small, hyaline thrombus. Figure 3 shows moderate interstitial fibrosis....
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Art of Medicine: ANCA-Associated Glomerulonephritis

Article
The painting above shows a crescentic glomerulonephritis and necrotizing arteritis.  A mixed interstitial inflammatory infiltrate is shown in the top left corner, and tubules are dilated with a few red blood cell casts.  This cluster of findings can occur in ANCA-associated disease.  Renal biopsy images representing manifestations of ANCA-associated glomerulonephritis are shown below.  The main differential diagnosis for crescents within glomeruli includes immune complex glomerulonephritides, anti-GBM nephritis, and ANCA-associated glomerulonephritis (pauci-immune), although nearly any glomerulonephritis with mesangial and/or endocapillary proliferation can produce crescents (examples – infection-associated glomerulonephritis, fibrillary glomerulonephritis, and others).  Correlation with ANCA serologies is recommended in any case...
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Hemosiderosis

Article
An 80-year-old white male presents with a creatinine of 4.2 (baseline 1.1) on routine lab examination. His medical history is significant for coronary artery disease, aortic valve replacement, hypertension, and peripheral artery disease. He reports no episodes of dehydration and reports that he has been in his normal state of health. Figure 1 shows a normal glomerulus. Figure 2 shows a mild interstitial fibrosis. Figure 3 shows brown spherules within the tubular epithelial cells. Figure 4 confirms the presence of iron within these brown spherules. This is a case of renal hemosiderosis. The presence of iron deposits speaks towards intravascular...
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Lupus Nephritis (Class IV)

Article
A 20-year-old female presents with hematuria, proteinuria, and a creatinine of 1.2 mg/dl. Serologies for ANA are positive. Complement levels are decreased. She states that auto-immune disease runs in her family, but is unsure about any specific diagnosis. Serologies for dsDNA, SSA, SSB, rheumatoid factor, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV are pending. Figure 1 shows mesangial and endocapillary hypercellularity with prominent "hyaline thrombi." Figure 2 shows no significant interstitial fibrosis. Figure 3 shows "wire loops" and no "spikes" and "holes." Figure 4, Figure 5, and Figure 6 shows mesangial and capillary staining with IgG, kappa, and lambda, respectively. Figure...
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