Nephrotic syndrome without kidney injury revealing intravascular large B cell lymphoma

Characteristics of Renal Intravascular Large B-cell Lymphoma

Introduction

Renal intravascular large B-cell lymphoma (IVLBCL) is a rare, aggressive B-cell lymphoma with neoplastic cells occupying the vascular lumina with only 53 patients reported to date. Here, we present the largest case series to characterize this rare disease.

Methods

We performed a multi-institutional, retrospective review of kidney biopsies and autopsies with a diagnosis of kidney IVLBCL and report our findings.

Results

We identified 20 patients with an average age of 65.7 ± 7.8 years (55% males) with IVLBCL on kidney biopsy. The most common clinical presentation was fever and anemia. Acute kidney injury (AKI) was noted in 70% to 90%, proteinuria in 70% to 84.1%, hematuria in 45%, and nephrotic-range proteinuria in 10% to 26.1% of cases. The median (interquartile range) of serum creatinine was 1.75 (1.14, 3.3) mg/dl. Neoplastic lymphoid cells were present in glomeruli, peritubular capillaries, and arteries or veins. Of the patients, 44.3% showed extrarenal infiltration into bone marrow, liver, spleen, central vervous system, lung and skin. Neoplastic cells express CD20, CD79a, PAX-5, and MUM1+, and were CD10-negative. Available follow-up data showed a median survival of 21 months after diagnosis. Extrarenal involvement is a significant and independent predictor of mortality with a hazard ratio of 4.975 (95% confidence interval:1.38, 17.88) after controlling for age and gender. Serum creatinine, age, sex, and infiltration of intrarenal arteries or veins did not affect survival.

Conclusion

Kidney IVLBCL is a rare disease that is unexpectedly diagnosed by kidney biopsy, presenting with fever, anemia, mild AKI, and proteinuria. Median survival is 21 months and extrarenal involvement is associated with worse outcome.

Fever of unknown origin characterized by acute kidney injury and nephrotic syndrome diagnosed as intravascular large B-cell lymphoma of kidney: case report and literature review

A 60-year-old Chinese female patient was admitted to the hospital with complaint of intermittent fever for more than seven months. The main clinical manifestations were acute kidney injury and nephrotic syndrome which developed into a hemophagocytic syndrome. The symptoms did not improve with antibiotics. Moreover, prednisone could only reduce the fever. Finally, a kidney biopsy showed many CD20-positive cells in the glomerulus and some in the peritubular capillaries. This led to a diagnosis of renal intravascular large B-cell lymphoma.

Case Report: Intravascular Large B-Cell Lymphoma: A Clinicopathologic Study of Four Cases With Review of Additional 331 Cases in the Literature

Intravascular large B-cell lymphoma (IVLBCL) is a rare and highly malignant non-Hodgkin B-cell lymphoma with uncommon clinical presentation and poor prognosis. The diagnostic pitfall of IVLBCL is mainly due to the fact that subtle histological changes could be easily overlooked, in addition to its rare occurrence, non-specific and variable clinical presentations, and the absence of significant mass lesions. The purpose of this study is to further explore the clinicopathologic and molecular features of IVLBCL to ensure an accurate diagnosis of this entity. Here, we retrospectively present the data of the four new cases and the literature cases. The age ranged from 23 to 92, with a medium age of 67 and a male-to-female ratio of 1:1. The clinical manifestations are extremely variable, including fever, night sweats, weight loss, anemia, thrombocytopenia, unexplained hypoxemia, impaired consciousness, and skin lesions, as well as the extremely low levels of serum albumin, high levels of serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL2R), and ferritin. Morphologically, 99.9% of cases showed a selective growth pattern with large, atypical lymphocytes within the lumen of small blood vessels. In addition, vast majority of cases were positive for CD20, CD79a, PAX5, MUM1, and BCL6, and a subset of cases expressed BCL2 and CD5, whereas CD3 and CD10 were typically negative. Ki-67 proliferative index ranged from 20% to 100%. To sum up, we have conducted comprehensive case reports, to the best of our knowledge, this is the largest reported cohort of IVLBCL cases. Comprehensive assessments and more IVLBCL cases are required for early diagnosis and prompt treatment.