Clinical Nephrology. Case Studies

INTRODUCTION: Malignant hypertension (mHTN) damages multiple target organs, including the kidneys. mHTN has been regarded as one of the causes of secondary thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA); however, a high prevalence of complement gene abnormalities was recently reported in cohorts of mHTN. CASE REPORT: We herein describe a 47-year-old male who presented with severe hypertension, renal failure (serum creatinine (sCr): 11.6 mg/dL), heart failure, retinal hemorrhage, hemolytic anemia, and thrombocytopenia...

BACKGROUND: Among different forms of de novo focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), which can develop after kidney transplantation (KTx), collapsing glomerulopathy (CG) is the least frequent variant, but it is associated with the most severe form of nephrotic syndrome, histological findings of important vascular damage, and a 50% risk of graft loss. Here, we report two cases of de novo post-transplant CG. CLINICAL PRESENTATION: A 64-year-old White man developed proteinuria and worsening of renal function 5 years after KTx...

Icodextrin use during the long dwell of a peritoneal dialysis (PD) regimen is commonly used to increase ultrafiltration. Its use may cause a mild and clinically insignificant degree of hyponatremia. We describe a patient who was admitted twice to our medical center on an atypical continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) regimen utilizing solely icodextrin with 2 exchanges (12-hour dwells). On both admissions, he had hyperosmolar hyponatremia in the 120-mmol/L range with a large osmolal gap. After icodextrin was stopped and his PD prescription was switched to dextrose solutions, both hyponatremia corrected and the osmolal gap quickly disappeared...

Kidney function may be impaired during pregnancy due to various reasons, and the physiological changes of pregnancy may unmask or worsen pre-existing kidney disease. Herein, we report a pregnant patient presenting with nephrotic-range proteinuria. She later developed acute kidney injury and pre-eclampsia. However, hemolytic anemia and thrombocytopenia persisted after delivery, and she was diagnosed with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS). Although hematological abnormalities resolved with eculizumab treatment, her renal functions did not improve...

Synthetic cannabinoid (SCB) usage among children is a rapidly emerging public health concern in the United States. Acute kidney injury (AKI) is an uncommon manifestation of SCB usage, with acute tubular necrosis (ATN) as the predominant histology. Here we describe a 16-year-old adolescent who sustained severe non-oliguric AKI in association with SCB usage. Emesis, right flank pain, and hypertension were the presenting clinical features. There was no uveitis, skin rash, joint pains, or eosinophilia. Urinalysis showed absence of proteinuria or hematuria...

Renal artery thrombosis is a rare vascular event that precipitates renal infarction. Although in up to one third of cases the etiology is not identified, renal artery lesions, cardioembolism and acquired thrombophilias are the main causes. A bilateral simultaneous idiopathic renal artery thrombosis is an unlikely coincidence. We present two cases of patients with acute bilateral renal artery thrombosis of unknown etiology. Cardiac embolism, acquired thrombophilia and occult neoplasm workups were negative. Both cases were temporarily hemodialysis-dependent and partially recovered renal function under conservative approach with systemic anticoagulation...

Renal vein thrombosis (RVT), defined as the presence of a thrombus in the major renal vein or one of its tributaries, can present acutely or go unnoticed resulting in acute kidney injury or chronic kidney disease. RVT is associated with multiple etiologies, including nephrotic syndrome, thrombophilia, autoimmune disorders, and malignancy. Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a multiorgan autoimmune disorder, are predisposed to coagulopathy and thus are at a higher risk of venous and arterial thromboembolism...

Agromyces mediolanus is a catalase-positive gram-positive rod typically found in the soil and not commonly known to be pathogenic. We present a rare case of Agromyces mediolanus bacteremia with aortic valve endocarditis in a patient who required prolonged inpatient care with a tunneled dialysis catheter for renal replacement therapy (RRT). Infection is the second leading cause of mortality among patients with end-stage renal disease and vascular access. The incidence of bacteremia is higher in patients with indwelling tunneled catheters than in those with an arteriovenous fistula or graft...

Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a genetic disease characterized by the growth of numerous noncancerous tumors in many parts of the body mainly the skin, brain, kidneys. The prevalence of the disease is estimated to be 7 - 12 in 100,000. We report the cases of two black African women diagnosed with TSC at age 25 and 54. They both had renal angiomyolipoma, facial angiofibroma and diffuse hypochromic macules. The older patient remained stable for the 11 years following her diagnosis. But, in the second patient, the disease was more severe with a giant angiomyolipoma, complicated by renal intracystic hemorrhage leading to the patient's death 1 month after diagnosis...

Graft tolerance is a clinical state of absence of an immune response in the recipient toward a donor allograft without any exogenous immunosuppression. Although more prevalent in liver transplantation recipients, it has rarely been reported in renal transplant recipients. We present a 62-year-old deceased donor kidney transplant recipient who exhibited operational tolerance as they stopped immunosuppressant medications for more than 10 years and yet demonstrated stable graft function. Although various hypotheses, such as deletion, anergy, immunoregulation, and clonal exhaustion, have been experimentally validated, clinical "operational tolerance" of a renal allograft on a prolonged basis has been infrequently reported in the medical literature...

INTRODUCTION: Thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) is characterized by microangiopathic hemolytic anemia and is associated with a variety of conditions and following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy is a novel immunotherapeutic approach using genetically modified autologous T cells. CAR-T therapy has been linked with injuries to vascular endothelium, but a direct association between CAR-T and TMA has not been reported. CASE REPORTS: Two cases of TMAs following CAR-T treatment are reported here...

We report a case of a 58-year-old woman presenting with symptoms of oliguria, fatigue, anorexia, constipation, hypovolemic signs, and laboratory tests showing severe hypokalemia (1.7 mEq/L), hyponatremia (120 mEq/L), high serum creatinine (SCr, 6.46 mg/dL) and urea (352 mg/dL). The patient had previously been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD), with SCr up to 2.58 mg/dL 1 year prior, and had in all her previous laboratory tests shown hypokalemia, which was treated with conservative measures and eplerenone despite low-normal blood pressure and normal heart function...

A 72-year-old female was admitted with severe calciphylaxis-associated bilateral leg pain on a background of end-stage renal failure on hemodialysis. Palliative care input was requested, and following transfer to our unit she was commenced on low-dose methadone as adjunctive analgesic therapy. A remarkable and sustained analgesic response was observed. Calciphylaxis is associated with severe pain, and careful consideration of analgesic agents and their pharmacokinetics in patients with end-stage renal failure is required...

Dent's disease is an X-linked recessive disease characterized by proximal tubulopathy with low-molecular weight proteinuria, hypercalciuria, nephrolithiasis, nephrocalcinosis, and kidney failure. It is mainly caused by mutations in the CLCN5 or OCRL1 genes, and only ~ 250 families have been identified with these mutations. We present a 31-year-old male referred to a nephrology consultation due to elevated serum creatinine and a history of nephrolithiasis. Complementary evaluation revealed protein/creatinine ratio of 1...

Kidney disease can be an initial presentation or a chronic manifestation of plasma cell dyscrasias. Here, we describe a rare presentation of kidney disease driven by lymphomatous infiltration of the kidney in a patient with Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia (WM). A 70-year-old female with an 8-year history of WM (IgM, κ) was referred for declining renal function. Prior to presentation, she had stable WM disease without evidence of worsening disease burden. She had been previously hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 infection and acute kidney injury (AKI)...

Nodular glomerulosclerosis is classically associated with diabetes. Nowadays, it is well known that this histologic pattern can be the presentation of different diseases, including dysproteinemias and amyloidosis. Most recently, the previously thought to be idiopathic nodular glomerulosclerosis has been associated with hypertension, smoking, and obesity. We present a clinical case of a non-diabetic 74-year-old man, with hypertension and heavy smoking history, who presented with nephrotic proteinuria and chronic kidney disease...

India witnessed an epidemic of mucormycosis during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Renal mucormycosis has been reported rarely, mostly from India, but only 2 cases have been reported following COVID-19 infection to date. We report a case of mucormycosis predominantly affecting kidneys in a young and previously healthy male following COVID-19 pneumonia, for which he had received corticosteroid, remdesivir, and tocilizumab. He presented with hematuria, progressive oliguria, and severe acute kidney injury (AKI) requiring dialysis...

Management of acute kidney injury (AKI) associated with drug-induced crystal nephropathy can be difficult, and timely diagnosis is critical to resolve this condition. We present the case of a 55-year-old woman with history of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), who, after treatment with trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMX) for suspected Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia, developed severe AKI. Automated urinary sediment initially reported hematuria, leukocyturia and "uric acid crystals". She did not have allergic symptoms, clinical manifestations of active SLE nor hyperuricemia...

In this case, we report a 64-year-old man presenting with anorexia, nausea and vomiting, mild abdominal pain, and oligoanuria for a few hours. His previous medical history included diabetes, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 3. Upon arrival, laboratory results revealed stage III acute kidney injury (AKI) with hyperkalemia requiring dialysis treatment. During hospitalization, both pre-renal and post-renal causes of AKI were excluded, and a careful diagnostic evaluation, including kidney biopsy and serology testing, revealed acute interstitial nephritis and positive IgM for hantavirus...

There have been multiple reports of the development of de novo or relapse of glomerular diseases after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. While most of them have occurred with the mRNA vaccines (Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna/NIAID), there also have been reports associated with the vector vaccines (AstraZeneca/ChAdOx1-S) vaccine and the inactivated vaccines. Minimal change disease (MCD) is one of the more common glomerular diseases noted to have been associated with the COVID-19 vaccination. We report here 4 more cases of MCD occurring in association with the COVID-19 vaccine, 3 were de novo cases, and 1 case had a relapse of MCD...