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Currently filtering by tag: Diabetic glomerulopathy

Art of Medicine: Diabetic Nephropathy

Article
The above painting shows glomeruli with nodular mesangial expansion and arterial hyalinosis, changes frequently seen in diabetic nephropathy. Diabetic nephropathy is graded by the classification system established by the Renal Pathology Society to separate lesions into varying degrees of severity. In class I diabetic glomerulopathy, there are no changes identified by light microscopy, but thickening of the glomerular basement membranes are seen on electron microscopy (see photomicrograph below). Thickened glomerular basement membranes are greater than 471 nm in women or 520 nm in men (in our lab), which represents greater than 2 standard deviations above the normal population. Glomerular basement...
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IgA Dominant Infection-Associated Glomerulonephritis

Article
A 65-year-old male presents to the ER with a new onset rash and blood in his urine. The ER doc is worried about an allergic reaction and on chem 7 finds that the patient’s creatinine is 6.5 mg/dl. The patient has been a diabetic for over 20 years and had been diagnosed with cellulitis of his left foot a week ago by a family practice physician who gave him antibiotics. A skin biopsy of the new onset rash during this hospitalization shows a leukocytoclastic vasculitis with IgA deposition. A kidney biopsy is requested. The kidney biopsy shows nodular diabetic glomerulosclerosis...
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Not Quite Nodular

Article
This biopsy came from a 70-year-old gentleman with acute renal failure. He had a known history of diabetes, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease.  His baseline serum creatinine is between 1.7 mg/dl and 1.9 mg/dl and was found to be elevated up to 2.9 mg/dl. Proteinuria was quantified as 0.2 g/g on urine protein to creatinine ratio.  Urinalysis showed trace blood and protein.  While processing the clinical information, one has to admit that this clinical presentation is not an unusual one.  A fair number of patients will have a decline in renal function that reflects the reality of an already struggling...
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Diabetic Glomerulosclerosis with Superimposed Diseases

Article
Diabetic glomerulosclerosis is one of the most common causes of nephrotic range proteinuria in adults. When the clinical course of these patients is atypical, a renal biopsy is of utmost importance to rule out superimposed or other concomitant diseases. Figure 1 (PAS stain) shows a representative glomerulus from a renal biopsy performed on a 65 year old Caucasian female with longstanding history of type 2 diabetes mellitus, who experienced a sudden increase in proteinuria from a baseline UPCR of 1.2 g/g to 7.5 g/g. The glomerulus shows severe mesangial matrix expansion with frequent large nodule formation, characteristic of diabetic glomerulosclerosis....
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Interstitial Eosinophils

Article
Prominent interstitial eosinophils (see arrow) are most often associated with allergic-type acute interstitial nephritis (AIN).  However, eosinophils are not specific for allergic-type AIN as they may also be prominent in other acute and chronic diseases affecting the tubulointerstitium.  Diabetic patients, for example, may have prominent interstitial eosinophilic aggregates, which are usually not associated with medication use or a history of allergy (see Dai DF et al.  Interstitial eosinophilic aggregates in diabetic nephropathy: allergy or not? Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2015 Aug;30(8):1370-6).  Remember, too, that urine eosinophils can be found in a variety of upper and lower urinary tract diseases as well,...
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Diagnose This! (March 5, 2018)

Article
What is the most likely diagnosis? For bonus points, what is the basic differential for this morphologic finding (non-immune and immune)?     ​   ​ ​   ​   ​ ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​   ​...
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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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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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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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Eosinophil-Rich Inflammation in Diabetic Glomerulopathy

Article
These photomicrographs are from a patient with diabetic nephropathy as evidenced by the Kimmelstiel-Wilson nodules in the glomerulus present on the PAS section. A patchy, interstitial inflammatory infiltrate rich in eosinophils is present, as seen in the H&E stained section. The infiltrate is particularly prominent in areas of fibrosis. No tubulitis is identified in the biopsy. Interstitial inflammation rich in eosinophils is a common finding in diabetic nephropathy. When present, the pathologist is forced to determine if the inflammation warrants a diagnosis of acute interstitial nephritis. This is an important distinction because, if interstitial nephritis is present, the clinician must...
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