Successful Treatment of Posttransplant Recurrent Complement C3 Glomerulopathy with Eculizumab.

Two-thirds of complement C3 glomerulopathy (C3G) recur after transplantation and commonly cause graft loss. There is not a standard treatment protocol for these cases. We present a kidney transplant patient with recurrent C3G who was successfully treated with eculizumab. Nephrotic proteinuria and hematuria occurred and creatinine levels increased after transplantation. A graft biopsy revealed recurrent C3G. The patient was administered 250 mg pulse methylprednisolone for 3 days and had 9 sessions of plasmapheresis. Since elevated creatinine levels and proteinuria persisted, eculizumab was instituted. A complete remission was observed after 9-month maintenance eculizumab treatment. Eculizumab may be a potentially effective option in kidney transplant patients with recurrent C3G unresponsive to other treatment modalities.

A "silent" course of normotensive scleroderma renal crisis: case report and review of the literature.

Scleroderma renal crisis (SRC) is a complication of systemic sclerosis characterized by the sudden onset of accelerated arterial hypertension, followed by progressive renal failure. Rarely, patients with SRC may be normotensive on presentation. These patients have poorer prognosis and higher mortality rates than those with hypertensive SRC. This is partly explained by the insidious course of normotensive SRC leading to delayed diagnosis and treatment. Normotensive patients also seem to be less responsive to current treatment modalities. Since available data on etiology, pathogenesis, and risk factors of the disease are inadequate, no effective therapy has been established to date. We report a patient with diffuse cutaneous scleroderma who developed SRC during his hospitalization. The patient remained normotensive and had an insidious course until oliguria and signs of hypervolemia occurred. Etiology, pathogenesis, risk factors, diagnosis, treatment modalities and prognosis of normotensive SRC are also discussed through previously published reports.

Acute tubulo-interstitiel nephritis associated with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma presenting as acute renal failure.

Renal infiltration in malignant lymphomas may involve the interstitium but rarely causes acute renal failure. In this report, we describe a 59-year-old woman presenting with an acute renal failure due to bilateral diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin's infiltration of the kidneys.

The effect of high-flux hemodialysis on renal anemia.

BACKGROUND: Anemia is an important predictor of mortality and morbidity in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) undergoing hemodialysis (HD). Erythropoietin (EPO) is an expensive drug, which increases the cost of therapy. In addition, anemia persists in 20-30% of cases despite EPO treatment. In this study, which depended on the idea that the clearance of moderate and high molecular weight erythropoiesis inhibitors leads to an improvement in terms of anemia, we aimed to investigate the effect of high-flux dialysis on anemia and EPO requirement in patients undergoing HD. METHODS: The study included 48 patients with ESRD on chronic HD treatment who could not reach the target hemoglobin (Hb) level, despite treatment with at least 200 IU/kg/week subcutaneous EPO. Patients were randomized into two groups and HD was performed with polysulphone low-flux dialyzer (Fresenius F6 HPS) or polysulphone high-flux dialyzer (Fresenius F60) for 6 months. RESULTS: Although the EPO doses were significantly lower (p<0.001) in the high-flux dialysis group, Hb levels showed a significant increase (p<0.001). In the low-flux dialysis group, Hb levels showed no significant increase, despite the steady increase in EPO doses. In the high-flux group, the reduction of beta2-microglobulin (b2-MG) and phosphorus levels during dialysis was significantly higher when compared to the low-flux group (p<0.001). During the follow-up period, while b2-MG levels decreased significantly in the high-flux group (p<0.05), there was an increase in the low-flux group (p<0.05). Kt/V(urea) values showed no significant difference throughout the study. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that high-flux dialysis use is effective and this can be an alternative method in terms of controlling renal anemia and reducing the cost of therapy. These beneficial effects of high-flux dialysis are probably mediated by the improved clearance of moderate and high molecular weight toxins.