Case records of the Massachusetts General Hospital. Weekly clinicopathological exercises. Case 4-2002. A 75-year-old man with acute renal failure five months after cystoprostatectomy and urethrectomy for carcinoma

The clinical and immunological features of the post-extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy anti-glomerular basement membrane disease

Introduction

Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) is a noninvasive modality to treat urolithiasis, with complications including tissue damage and hematoma of kidney parenchyma. Anti-glomerular basement membrane (GBM) disease is suggested to be a rare complication of ESWL since it was reported in several cases to occur after ESWL. However, the clinical and immunological features of the ESWL-associated anti-GBM disease have not been fully investigated so far.

Case Presentation

Here, we present the clinical, pathological, and immunological characteristics of three patients with the post-ESWL anti-GBM disease in our hospital. Anti-GBM disease occurred within a median of 22 months after ESWL treatment. It presented with similar clinical features to the classic anti-GBM disease, including fever, gross hematuria, and rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis (RPGN) with poor renal prognosis. Sera from all patients recognized the α3(IV)NC1 in GBM, but with IgG2 and IgG4 as the dominant IgG subclasses.

Conclusion

Although further exploration is required to prove the causal relationship in this rare condition, our study reminds physicians that patients developing acute renal insufficiency after ESWL should lead to the suspicion of anti-GBM disease and in-time diagnosis and treatment.

Desensitization with antigen-specific immunoadsorption interferes with complement in ABO-incompatible kidney transplantation

BACKGROUND

Complement activation was characterized during and after desensitization treatment in 19 consecutive patients receiving ABO-incompatible (ABOi) living donor kidney transplants to assess the effect of desensitization protocol including antigen-specific immunoadsorption (IA) on complement activation.

METHODS

All patients received rituximab- and tacrolimus-based triple treatment. Anti-A/B antibodies were removed by IA. Serial determinations of C3, C3a, the C3a/C3 ratio, and sC5b-9 were carried out between day -30 and postoperative day 30. C1q was measured on day -30 and the day before the transplantation. In two recipients, eluates from immunoadsorbent columns were analyzed for C3a, C1q, and immunoglobulins by western blotting. Same complement analysis was performed in eluate from a control column after in vitro perfusion of AB-plasma.

RESULTS

Patient and graft survival were 100% for a median follow-up of 40 months (range, 12-60 months). There were no humoral rejections based on ABO-antigen-antibody interactions. C3a and the C3a/C3 ratio declined with the start of IA treatment, and this decline was maintained postoperatively. C1q declined from day -30 to a lower value on the day before transplantation (P<0.05). In eluates from both patient and control, immunoadsorbent column immunoglobulins together with C3a and C1q were detected.

CONCLUSIONS

The current protocol including antigen-specific IA interferes with the complement system; this effect may be partially responsible for the absence of humoral rejection resulting from ABO-antigen-antibody interactions and the excellent outcomes obtained after ABO-incompatible kidney transplantation.