A Rare Case of Lymphatic Filariasis

Lymphatic filariasis is a parasitic infection caused by Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi and Brugia timori.Asymptomatic microfilaria, acute lymphatic filariasis, chronic lymphatic filariasis, tropical pulmonary eosinophilia are the different presentations of lymphatic filariasis. Systemic manifestation can involve joint, kidney, heart and nerve. This article is a case report of lymphatic filariasis with a rare presentation of anasarca and nephritic syndrome.

The spectrum of biopsy-proven glomerular diseases in a tertiary Hospital in Southern Brazil

Background The prevalence and distribution of glomerular diseases differ among countries, and the indication to perform a kidney biopsy varies among centres. In this study, we assessed the prevalence of primary and secondary glomerulopathies based on histological diagnoses, and the correlation between glomerulopathies and demographic and clinical data was evaluated. Methods In this study, 1051 kidney biopsies were retrospectively reviewed between 2000 and 2018. Patient demographic, clinical and laboratory data were assessed. The prevalence of primary glomerulonephritis (PG) and secondary glomerulopathies (SG), as well as tubulointerstitial diseases (TIDs), hereditary nephropathies (HNs) and other diagnoses, were determined. The frequency of primary and secondary glomerulopathies was evaluated by age group, and the temporal variation in frequencies across three time periods (2000-2005, 2006-2011, and 2012-2018) was reported. Results The prevalence of SG predominated (52.4%), followed by PG (29.6%), other diagnoses (10.7%), TID (6.6%) and HN (1.1%). Among the primary forms of glomerular disease, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) was the most common (37.3%), followed by IgA nephropathy (IgAN, 24.4%), membranous nephropathy (MN, 18.6%) and minimal change disease (MCD, 8.4%). Lupus nephritis (LN, 41.1%) was most common in patients with SG, followed by diabetic kidney disease (DKD, 17.8%), systemic vasculitis (SV, 10.2%) and secondary FSGS (2nd FSGS, 10%). Nephrotic syndrome was the most common clinical presentation in patients with PG and also in patients with DRD and 2nd FSGS, whereas in patients with IgAN and SV, nephritic syndrome was the main presentation. For the age group between 18 and 50 years, LN, FSGS and IgAN predominated; for patients aged between 51 and 65 years, the proportion of DKD and 2nd FSGS increased, and SV was more common in patients > 65 years. The temporal variation in PG across the three time periods showed a statistically significant increase in IgAN (p = 0.001) and a reduction in FSGS over time (p < 0.001). In SG, there was a reduction in LN (p = 0.027) and an increase in DKD (p < 0.001) over time, with a tendency for 2nd FSGS to decrease over time (p = 0.053). Conclusions In the studied kidney biopsy registry, FSGS and IgAN were the most prevalent diagnoses in patients with PG, and LN and DKD were the most prevalent in patients with SG. Nephrotic syndrome was the major indication for biopsy. When comparing the temporal variation in glomerulopathies, there was a reduction in FSGS and an increase in IgAN in patients with PGs over time, and for patients with SGs, there was a reduction in LN with an increase in cases of DKD over time.

Clinicopathological discordance in biopsy-proven nephrosclerosis: a nationwide cross-sectional study of the Japan Renal Biopsy Registry (J-RBR)

Background Patients with nephrosclerosis display heterogenous clinical phenotypes, often leading to a clinical diagnosis discordant with pathological nephrosclerosis diagnosis. However, little is known about clinical factors associated with clinicopathological discordance of biopsy-proven nephrosclerosis. Methods In a cross-sectional study of 891 patients with biopsy-proven nephrosclerosis registered in the Japan Renal Biopsy Registry (J-RBR) between July 2007 and June 2016, we examined clinical characteristics associated with a pre-biopsy clinical diagnosis discordant with pathological nephrosclerosis diagnosis using multivariable logistic regression with adjustment for relevant clinical characteristics. Results Overall, the mean (SD) age was 58.6 (13.7) years; 67.6% of patients were male; and 63.2% were on antihypertensive drugs. The median estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was 43.8 mL/min/1.73 m2 and the median proteinuria was 0.5 g/day. Of the 891 patients, 497 (55.8%) had a clinical diagnosis discordant with pathological nephrosclerosis diagnosis, with chronic nephritic syndrome being the most common (> 75%) discordant clinical diagnosis. After multivariable adjustment, age (odds ratio 1.34, [95% confidence interval, 1.16–1.55], per 10 years increase), eGFR (1.10 [1.00–1.21], per 10 mL/min/1.73 m2 increase), and proteinuria (1.20 [1.03–2.16], per 1 g/day decrease) were found to be significantly associated with the clinicopathological discordance. Conclusions Patients with older age, higher eGFR, and lower proteinuria had significantly higher likelihood of being clinically diagnosed with other glomerular disease in patients with biopsy-proven nephrosclerosis. Our findings highlight the heterogeneous clinical phenotypes of nephrosclerosis and suggest the need for continuous improvement of clinical diagnostic accuracy as well as for wider kidney biopsy indications for nephrosclerosis.

A Pattern of Glomerular Diseases in Egyptian Children: A Single-center Experience

BACKGROUND: Findings indicative of the glomerular disease are proteinuria, hematuria, nephrotic syndrome (NS), hypertension, and renal insufficiency. These presentations can be used to define different clinical patterns that resemble different underlying etiologies. METHODS: This study is a cross-sectional study enrolled in Children Hospital Cairo University. The study participants were recruited on two stages, retrospective and prospective stages. In the retrospective stage, all eligible patients across 5 years (between 2011 and 2015) with any glomerular disease were included in the study. In addition, prospectively, the new cases a long 6 months (from February 2016 till July 2016) with glomerular diseases were included in the study. RESULTS: A total of 594 cases with different glomerular diseases were identified. Cases were two groups: The retrospective group that involved 543 cases and the prospective group that included 51 cases. In the retrospective part of the study, the most common presentations were NS (68%), nephritis (16.4%), gross hematuria (10.5%), and nephrotic/nephritic syndrome (3.5%). The most common biopsies in the retrospective study were NS: MCNS (27.3%), NS: focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) (23.4%), NS: Mesangioproliferative GN (9.4%), NS: Membranous GN (2.3%), Crescentric GN (3.9%), Membranous GN (0.8%), MPGN (0.8%), congenital nephrotic syndrome (CNS):Diffuse Mesangial Sclerosis (3.9%), CNS: Finnish type (2.3%), Alport (4.7%), IgA nephropathy (3.9%), IgM nephropathy (1.6%), lupus nephritis (LN) (3.1%), Thin basement membrane disease (3.1%), and others (9.4%) In the prospective study, the most common presentations were NS (76.5%), nephritis (11.8%), nephrotic/nephritic syndrome (7.8%), and gross hematuria (3.9%). The biopsies results were mainly NS: FSGS (33.3%) and NS: MCNS (33.3%). Other biopsies results in the prospective part were NS: Mesangioproliferative GN (16.7%), LN (8.3%), and IgA nephropathy (8.3%). CONCLUSION: The most common glomerular disease in childhood is NS. The most common pathology of glomerular diseases is minimal change NS.

Renal Outcomes of Childhood IgA Nephropathy and Henoch Schönlein Purpura Nephritis

Background: Henoch-Schönlein purpura nephritis (HSPN) is considered the systemic form of IgA nephropathy (IgAN). However, differing clinicopathological features and renal outcomes of children with IgAN and HSPN have been reported in some studies. Methods: This study retrospectively reviewed children with IgAN and HSPN younger than 18 years, between January 2004 and December 2015. The clinicopathological characteristics at diagnosis and the renal outcomes after at least 1 year of follow-up were compared between the two groups. Results: A total of 54 children, comprising 21 with IgAN and 33 with HSPN, were recruited. The children with HSPN were younger than the children with IgAN. Gross hematuria and nephritic syndrome at the initial presentation were more common in children with IgAN. Regarding the pathological findings, IgAN had greater chronicity than HSPN. After a median follow-up period from first presentation to renal outcomes measurement of 4.0 years (1.3-12.2) in children with IgAN and 4.2 years (1.1-11.4) in children with HSPN, the renal outcomes were better in the latter group. The incidence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) was 28.6% in children with IgAN and 6.1% in children with HSPN (p = 0.02). Complete recovery was observed more frequently in children with HSPN than in children with IgAN (57.1% in IgAN vs. 87.9% in HSPN, p = 0.01). Conclusions: Childhood IgAN has greater chronicity and worse renal outcomes than childhood HSPN, with a lower rate of complete recovery and a higher frequency of CKD. We recommend long-term follow-up for CKD in children with IgAN.

Tonsillectomy in IgA Nephropathy - Clinical Case

This article presents the clinical case of IgA nephropathy of a patient hospitalized in order to investigate a nephritic syndrome, apparently with acute onset, discovered in the following circumstances: recurrent macroscopic hematuria, decreased urinary volume, the first episode occurring about a month ago in the context of an acute infection of upper airways, remitted under antibiotic therapy, with reappearance every 2 weeks, also accompanied by odynophagia and decreased urinary volume.

A rare case of placental site trophoblastic tumor

Placental site trophoblastic tumor (PSTT) is a very rare tumor of young women and unique form of gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) representing a neoplastic transformation of intermediate trophoblastic cells that play a critical role in implantation. It accounts for 1-2% of all GTNs, incidence of it being 1 in 1,00,000 pregnancies. It displays a wide clinical spectrum from benign lesion within uterus to highly metastatic features with widespread features of metastasis and can be difficult to control even with surgery and chemotherapy. Unlike other forms of GTD, it is characterized by low β-hCG levels because it is a neoplastic proliferation of intermediate trophoblastic cells. PSTT can develop following all kind of pregnancies, whereas approximately 50% of PSTT cases occur after a normal pregnancy and other cases follow abortion, term delivery, ectopic pregnancy and molar pregnancy. Histopathologically, PSTT has proliferation of intermediate trophoblastic cells and absence of villi. It shows less invasion of vascular tissue and using immune histochemistry revealed that PSTT cells expressed HPL more than β-hCG, characterized by increased expression of the HPL in histological section as well as serum. The most common presenting symptoms of PSTT are irregular vaginal bleeding associated with uterine sub involution. Patient can also be presented with amenorrhea, nephritic syndrome, abdominal pain, galactorrhea and hemoptysis. Hence any case of unusual bleeding should be investigated with dilation and curettage and βHCG levels. Although the majority of patients of the non-metastatic PSTT are cured by hysterectomy but in metastatic cases, it requires aggressive treatment with chemotherapy and radiation. Due to its seldom occurrence and uncharacteristic clinical presentation, to reach a correct diagnosis and management is a surgeon’s nightmare and can be very challenging.

Preliminary study on the application of renal ultrasonography radiomics in the classification of glomerulopathy

Background The aim of this study was to investigate the potential use of renal ultrasonography radiomics features in the histologic classification of glomerulopathy. Methods A total of 623 renal ultrasound images from 46 membranous nephropathy (MN) and 22 IgA nephropathy patients were collected. The cases and images were divided into a training group (51 cases with 470 images) and a test group (17 cases with 153 images). A total of 180 dimensional features were designed and extracted from the renal parenchyma in the ultrasound images. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) logistic regression was then applied to these normalized radiomics features to select the features with the highest correlations. Four machine learning classifiers, including logistic regression, a support vector machine (SVM), a random forest, and a K-nearest neighbour classifier, were deployed for the classification of MN and IgA nephropathy. Subsequently, the results were assessed according to accuracy and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Results Patients with MN were older than patients with IgA nephropathy. MN primarily manifested in patients as nephrotic syndrome, whereas IgA nephropathy presented mainly as nephritic syndrome. Analysis of the classification performance of the four classifiers for IgA nephropathy and MN revealed that the random forest achieved the highest area under the ROC curve (AUC) (0.7639) and the highest specificity (0.8750). However, logistic regression attained the highest accuracy (0.7647) and the highest sensitivity (0.8889). Conclusions Quantitative radiomics imaging features extracted from digital renal ultrasound are fully capable of distinguishing IgA nephropathy from MN. Radiomics analysis, a non-invasive method, is helpful for histological classification of glomerulopathy.

Multisystemic Inflammatory Syndrome and Thrombotic Microangiopathy as Complications of COVID-19 in a Child: A Case Report

Clinical presentations of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infection are quite varied, ranging from asymptomatic conditions to potentially fatal disease. The kidney is one of the affected targets of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) complications, and renal dysfunction is a significant prognostic factor for mortality. This report describes a series of clinical complications in a previously healthy child who developed nephritic syndrome with a concomitant SARS-CoV-2 infection. These complications include acute kidney injury that progressed to chronicity, multisystemic inflammatory syndrome, Kawasaki-like syndrome, and thrombotic microangiopathy.