Renal Hemosiderosis Presenting with Acute Kidney Injury and Macroscopic Hematuria in Immunoglobulin a Nephropathy
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Taguchi et al. BMC Nephrology (2021) 22:132 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12882-021-02334-w CASE REPORT Open Access Renal hemosiderosis presenting with acute kidney Injury and macroscopic hematuria in Immunoglobulin A nephropathy: a case report Shinya Taguchi1,2*, Sumi Hidaka1, Mitsuru Yanai3,4, Kunihiro Ishioka1, Kenji Matsui1, Yasuhiro Mochida1, Hidekazu Moriya1, Takayasu Ohtake1 and Shuzo Kobayashi1 Abstract Background: Macroscopic hematuria-associated acute kidney injury (AKI) is a well-known complication of immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy. In such cases, intratubular obstruction by red blood cell (RBC) casts and acute tubular necrosis are mainly observed pathologically. Herein, we report the case of a patient with IgA nephropathy presenting with AKI following an episode of macrohematuria. The patient presented with severe renal tubular hemosiderosis and acute tubular necrosis and without any obvious obstructive RBC casts. Case presentation: A 68-year-old woman, who was diagnosed with IgA nephropathy on renal biopsy 6 years ago, was admitted to our hospital after an episode of macroscopic glomerular hematuria and AKI following upper respiratory tract infection. Renal biopsy showed mesangial proliferation of the glomeruli, including crescent formation in 17 % of the glomeruli, and acute tubular necrosis without obvious hemorrhage or obstructive RBC casts. The application of Perls’ Prussian blue stain showed hemosiderin deposition in the renal proximal tubular cells. Immunofluorescence showed granular mesangial deposits of IgA and C3. Based on these findings, she was diagnosed with acute tubular necrosis with a concurrent IgA nephropathy flare-up. Moreover, direct tubular injury by heme and iron was considered to be the cause of AKI. She was treated with intravenous pulse methylprednisolone followed by oral prednisolone. Thereafter, the gross hematuria gradually faded, and her serum creatinine levels decreased. Conclusions: IgA nephropathy presenting with acute kidney injury accompanied by macrohematuria may cause renal hemosiderosis and acute tubular necrosis without obstructive RBC casts. Hemosiderosis may be a useful indicator for determining the pathophysiology of macroscopic hematuria-associated AKI. However, renal hemosiderosis may remain undiagnosed. Thus, Perls’ Prussian blue iron staining should be more widely used in patients presenting with hematuria. Keywords: IgA nephropathy, Macroscopic hematuria, Macrohematuria, Immunoglobulin A, Hemosiderin, Hemosiderosis, Acute kidney injury, Acute tubular necrosis * Correspondence: [email protected] 1Kidney Disease and Transplant Center, Shonan Kamakura General Hospital, 1370-1 Okamoto, 247-8553 Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan 2Department of Medical Science and Cardiorenal Medicine, Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, 3-9 Fukuura, Kanazawa-ku, 236-0004 Yokohama, Japan Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s). 2021 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. Taguchi et al. BMC Nephrology (2021) 22:132 Page 2 of 6 Background Table 1 Laboratory data on admission Macroscopic hematuria-associated acute kidney injury Parameter Value (reference range) (AKI) is a well-known complication of immunoglobulin A Hematology – (IgA) nephropathy (IgAN) [1 3]. In such cases, intratubu- White blood cell count, /µL 7400 (3000–9700) lar red blood cell (RBC) casts and acute tubular injury are Hemoglobin, mg/dL 12.6 (11.0–15.6) mainly observed pathologically [1–3].Additionally, depos- 4 – ition of hemosiderin in renal tubules has been reported in Platelet count, 10 /µL 29.7 (12.4 30.5) cases of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) [4] Blood chemistry and anticoagulant-related nephropathy (ARN) [5]present- Total protein, g/dL 7.4 (6.4–8.3) ing with AKI accompanied by macrohematuria. Herein, Albumin, g/dL 3.4 (3.8–5.2) we report the case of a patient with IgAN presenting with Urea nitrogen, mg/dL 62.1 (7.4–19.5) AKI accompanied by macrohematuria. The patient was Creatinine, mg/dL 4.92 (0.4–1.0) presented with severe renal tubular hemosiderosis and 2 acute tubular necrosis (ATN) without obvious obstructive eGFR, ml/min/1.73m 7.5 (> 60) RBC casts. In this case, renal hemosiderosis was expected AST, U/L 23 (12–35) to be the cause of the AKI. ALT, U/L 24 (6–40) LDH, U/L 229 (119–229) Case presentation FBS, mg/dL 143 (70–110) A 69-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with a HbA1c, % 6.8 (4.6–6.2) 5-day history of macroscopic hematuria and AKI. She was – diagnosed with IgAN on renal biopsy 6 years prior. Fol- Triglyceride, mg/dL 169 (50 149) lowing this diagnosis, she was administered prednisolone LDL cholesterol, mg/dL 146 (70–139) because she had persistent microscopic hematuria and Immunology proteinuria of approximately 1.0 g/day. Proteinuria remit- IgG, mg/dL 1389 (820–1740) ted after treatment; however, microscopic hematuria per- IgA, mg/dL 736 (90–400) sisted (over 100 RBCs per high power field). Prednisolone IgM, mg/dL 67 (52–270) was discontinued 1 year ago. Five days prior to admission, – she developed an upper respiratory tract infection, accom- C3, mg/dL 157 (80 140) panied by gross hematuria. The gross hematuria persisted; C4, mg/dL 42 (11–34) however, the color became lighter after admission. Her CH50, U/mL 52 (30–45) past medical history included hypertension, diabetes, and C-reaction protein, mg/dL 6.31 (< 0.5) dyslipidemia. She was not receiving any antithrombotic Antinuclear antibody, IU/mL ×40 (< 40) medication. On admission, her body temperature, blood Anti-DNA antibody, IU/mL < 2.0 (0–6.0) pressure, and heart rate were 36.6℃, 144/64 mmHg, and – 65 beats/min, respectively. She had no abnormal findings MPO-ANCA, U/mL < 1.0 (0 3.5) on examination of her tonsils, pharynx, extremities, and PR3-ANCA, U/mL < 1.0 (0–3.5) skin. Laboratory data are presented in Table 1. Her serum ASO, IU/mL 50 (0–239) creatinine level increased to 4.9 mg/dl from 1.1 mg/dl at Urinalysis the last visit. Urinalysis revealed that the urinary protein Occult blood 3+ excretion level was 1.25 g/day; the sediments contained Dipstick protein 2+ 30–49 RBCs and ≥ 100 white blood cells per high-power – field. There were no signs of dehydration. Abdominal Red blood cell, /HPF 30 49 (< 5) ultrasound showed that both kidneys were of normal size, White blood cell, /HPF > 100 (< 5) excluding hydronephrosis. Protein urea, g/g creatinine 1.25 (< 0.15) A renal biopsy was performed 7 days after admission. Red blood cell cast (-) Light microscopy showed that nine out of 29 (31 %) eGFR estimated glomerular filtration rate; AST aspartate aminotransferase; glomeruli were globally sclerotic, and five out of 29 ALT alanine aminotransferase; LDH lactate dehydrogenase; FBS fasting blood (17 %) had cellular crescents. Most glomeruli showed sugar; HbA1c hemoglobin A1c; LDL low density lipoprotein; Ig immunoglobulin; MPO myeloperoxidase; PR3 proteinase 3; ANCA anti- moderate mesangial proliferation. The proximal tubule neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody; ASO anti-streptolysin epithelial cells were edematous, showed detachment from the tubular basement membrane, and contained obstructive RBC casts in the tubules. There was intersti- granules of various colors (ranging from yellow to tial fibrosis and inflammatory cells were present around brown). Some tubules showed dilation and loss of the the injured tubules (Fig. 1a–c). Immunofluorescence brush border. There was no obvious hemorrhage or showed granular mesangial staining for IgA and C3 Taguchi et al. BMC Nephrology (2021) 22:132 Page 3 of 6 Fig. 1 Microscopic findings of the renal biopsy. Periodic acid-Schiff staining shows tubular necrosis and pigments of various colors ranging from yellow to brown in the proximal tubular epithelial cells (a: ×400, b: ×400). a Black arrow shows loss of the brush border and swelling of the tubular epithelium. b Black arrow shows detachment of tubular epithelium from the basement membrane. Black arrowhead shows coagulative necrosis of the tubular epithelium. c Mesangial proliferation in the glomeruli (c: ×400). Immunofluorescence shows granular mesangial staining for immunoglobulin A (IgA) (d) and C3 (e), without staining for IgG, IgM, and C1q. Electron microscopy shows para-mesangial electron-dense deposits (f: ×8000, black arrow) (Fig. 1d, e). Electron microscopy showed mesangial RBC casts, which had never been reported previously. electron-dense deposits (Fig. 1 g). Perls’ Prussian blue This case suggests that hemosiderin-induced tubulotoxi- staining showed hemosiderin deposition in the renal city can be a major cause of AKI. proximal tubular cells, which was not observed 6 years In this case, there were no obvious obstructive RBC ago when first renal biopsy was performed (Fig. 2). Low casts in the tubules, which is commonly observed in vacuum scanning electron microscopy, a novel method patients with macroscopic hematuria-associated AKI [8]; for rapid three-dimensional pathological analysis [6, 7], however, significant hemosiderosis in the tubules was ob- showed the electron-dense particles in tubular epithelial served.