Biopsy of small kidneys: A safe and a useful guide to potentially treatable kidney disease.

Over the past four years, all patients with unexplained rapid progression of their renal disease were subjected to kidney biopsy, despite their small size (<9 cm), to define its etiology. Children, pregnant women, morbidly obese patients, and those with an unstable cardiovascular state, septicemia, bleeding diathesis as well as those kidney size with size <6 cm were excluded from the study. Doppler ultrasound was used to exclude renovascular/ischemic nephropathy. The procedure was performed by an interventional radiologist using a biopsy gun technique and under ultrasound guidance. The actual diagnosis was established in 29 cases while seven had advanced sclerosing glomerulonephritis. Eleven cases had evidence of vasculitis, of which two were due to polyarteritis nodosa and two were due to crescentic immunoglobulin A disease. The remaining patients had a secondary form of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (n = 4), interstitial nephritis (n = 4), malignant nephro-angiosclerosis (n = 2), and single patient with primary hyperoxaluria, light chain cast nephropathy, amyloidosis, and thrombotic microangiopathy. All, except eight with advanced glomerulosclerosis, had improved or became stable with specific treatment. Our study shows that biopsy of small-sized kidneys, in patients with unexplained renal deterioration, is safe, and its diagnostic value can improve their morbidity and even mortality.

Hilar and para-aortic necrotizing lymphadenopathy associated with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-negative pauci-immune crescentic glomerulonephritis.

Lymph node involvement as a part of systemic vasculitis is rare. We report a case of women with rapidly progressive renal disease associated with recurrent epigastric pain, weight loss, and massive hilar as well as para-aortic lymphadenopathy. Ultrasound-guided biopsy of her scarred kidneys revealed antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-negative crescentic glomerulonephritis and that of lymph nodes showed severe necrotizing vasculitis. Biopsy of the lymph nodes and the failing kidney established the diagnosis of this rare presentation and ruled out lymphoma and tuberculosis. Administration of corticosteroids and cyclophosphamide resulted in a favorable outcome.

Renal ablation using bilateral renal artery embolization for treatment of resistant nephrotic syndrome.

An 18-year-old man presented with severe nephrotic syndrome due to focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. His disease failed to remit with corticosteroids, calcineurin inhibitors, mycophenolate and rituximab. As his disease progressed with time, his anasarca became more resistant to high-dose combination diuretics and he developed multiple life-threatening bacterial infections. He was subjected to bilateral renal artery embolization with 99.8% alcohol to ablate his kidneys. Subsequently, the patient was maintained on hemodialysis and had normal serum albumin and did not have further infections. The procedure itself was simple and well tolerated, with only a minor post-embolization syndrome.

Percutaneous alcohol sclerotherapy of a hepatic hydatid cyst after balloon occlusion of a large biliary communication.

OBJECTIVE: To present a case of hepatic hydatid cyst with a biliary communication that was not suitable for surgery and hence necessitated sclerotherapy with absolute alcohol after occluding the biliary communication with a balloon catheter. CLINICAL PRESENTATION AND INTERVENTION: A 50-year-old Asian man presented to the surgical emergency department with a 1-year history of repeated attacks of obstructive jaundice and right hypochondrial pain. Ultrasound and contrast computed tomography revealed a cyst, and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography and cystography revealed a biliocystic communication. An indirect hemagglutination test for echinococcosis showed the presence of antibodies to Echinococcus species at a titer of 8 establishing the diagnosis of hydatid cyst. Although surgery is the accepted modality of treatment in these cases, the patient was deemed unfit for surgery due to his underlying cardiac problem. While percutaneous treatment with absolute alcohol is contraindicated in his case, it was successfully attempted after balloon occlusion of the biliocystic communication. CONCLUSION: This case showed that in this patient with hepatic hydatid disease and biliocystic communication, who was not fit for surgery, percutaneous sclerotherapy with absolute alcohol after balloon occlusion was successfully performed by an interventional radiologist.