arrow-right-realarrow-rightarrow-rightback-to-topdoctordownloadfacebookinstagramlogologo-wordmarkcasttwitter
Show/Hide Menu
Close Modal

Blog

Currently filtering by tag: ANCA

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...
Read More

Digging Deeper, or How We Never Quit

Article
We received the biopsy from a 25-year-old female who presented for evaluation of nephrotic range proteinuria.  Lab evaluation reveals a creatinine of 0.55 and 24-hour urine protein is 3.6 g.  Serologies were negative or normal for ANA, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV, and complement levels.  There was no history of hypertension or diabetes. A biopsy was performed to evaluate the source of proteinuria. Two cores of renal tissue were sampled on light microscopy evaluation.  They consisted mostly of medulla, and only two glomeruli were seen in multiple sections. The glomeruli have capillary loops with attenuated contours. The capillary loops appeared...
Read More

Diagnose This (January 21, 2019)

Article
A limited sample showed this lesion and negative staining on paraffin-retrieved IF tissue. What is your diagnosis?     ​ ​   ​   ​ ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​ ​   ​ ​   ​...
Read More

Digging Deeper – Here, There, and Everywhere

Article
This biopsy came from an elderly gentleman in his 80s, who presented with acute renal failure.  His serum creatinine had increased from a baseline of 1.3 mg/dL up to 6.6 mg/dL.  And in addition to that, urinalysis was positive for proteinuria and blood.  His medical history included pulmonary embolism, BPH, gastrointestinal hemorrhage and GERD.  Multiple serologies were ordered upon presentation, and among these, pANCA and MPO were markedly positive.  A biopsy was performed to investigate the possibility of an ANCA-mediated crescentic glomerulonephritis. Unfortunately, the material obtained for biopsy was small in size, and the longest core, submitted to light microscopy,...
Read More

Diagnose This (December 3, 2018)

Article
What is your diagnosis? What would you want to confirm your diagnosis?           ​ ​   ​   ​ ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​ ​   ​ ​   ​ ​  ...
Read More

Diagnose This (August 20, 2018)

Article
What is your presumed diagnosis in the absence of immunofluorescence and electron microscopy?   ​   ​ ​   ​   ​ ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​ ​   ​ ​   ​ ​   ​...
Read More

Twitter Poll (July 18, 2018)

Article
ANSWER: D In a case series by Boils et al. which included 49 patients with GN due to IE, 28% of them had positive ANCA antibodies. Of note, in this study it was described that only 29 out of 49 patients had serology drawn for ANCA, 21 were negative (72%) and 8 (28%) were positive. Reference: Boils CL, et al. Update on endocarditis-associated glomerulonephritis. Kidney Int 2015; 87(6): 1241-1249.
Read More

Chronic Lesions of ANCA – Fibrous Crescent

Article
Fibrous crescents can be differentiated from ischemic obsolescent glomeruli based on the pattern of global sclerosis. The fibrous crescent has interruption of the sclerotic glomerular tuft by fibrosis as is shown in photomicrograph A. By comparison, the ischemic obsolescent glomerulus in photomicrograph B shows a retracted glomerular tuft surrounded (but not transected by) fibrosis.
Read More

Digging Deeper, Literally

Article
This biopsy came from a 79-year-old patient. He had presented with acute renal failure. His serum creatinine was up to 2.0 mg/dL, from a normal baseline. He also had proteinuria, which was quantified as approximately 1 g. His serum albumin was low at 2.5 g/dL. The patient was anemic, and hemoglobin was 9.1. The patient had been investigated with an extensive serologic work up. ANA was negative, C3 was within normal limits, and SPEP was negative for monoclonal proteins. However, ANCA serologies were positive. Based on that, the patient had been treated with high doses of steroids for a few...
Read More
 

Arkana
Announcement

Posted May 28th 2019
Your patients can now pay their bill online. 
Learn More