A young male patient with Goodpasture's syndrome was treated with bilateral nephrectomy and when antiglomerular basement membrane antibodies could no longer be detected he received a cadaveric renal homograft. Fifteen months later he is in good health and without signs of pulmonary disease. Renal function is satisfactory, and there are no findings indicating recurrence of the nephritis. Serial complement studies during the entire course revealed varying degrees of activity in the sequence in the different phases: a high degree of in vivo activation of complement was found in the period before the nephrectomy, there was a moderate degree of activation in the period between the nephrectomy and transplantation and, finally, there were no signs of activity in the system after transplantation. This investigation strongly suggests that the complement system is of definite pathogenetic significance in this human equivalent to experimental nephrotoxic nephritis.

Adult↗

PubMed1975

Renin-secreting renal tumour with severe hypertension. case report with tumour renin analysis, histopathological and ultrastructural studies.

A 25-year-old man presented with severe hypertension associated with hypokalemia, elevated plasma renin level and secondary hyperaldosteronism. Malignant phase hypertension and renal artery stenosis were ruled out, and a preoperative diagnosis of renin-secreting renal tumour was made on the basis of higher concentrations of renin in the left than in the right renal venous plasma in spite of normal findings on selective renal arteriography. By removal of the affected kidney the tumour was found and it had a very high content of renin. Following the operation the plasma renin level, serum aldosterone concentration and BP became normal. We present a histopathological description and an ultrastructural study of the tumour.

Adult↗

PubMed1973