UPJ obstruction is another common congenital abnormality which under some circumstances can lead to significant renal scarring and chronic kidney diseases. About 50% of ultrasounds during pregnancy which detect antenatal hydronephrosis turn out to have UPJ obstruction. UPJ…
Horseshoe kidney is a relatively common (1 in 400 live births) congenital malformation of the kidney in which the kidneys are fused together. 90% of the time the fusion occurs at the lower poles (upper left photo) and…
Pauci-immune disease–a common cause of glomerulonephritis–refers to the histologic finding that there is an absence of glomerular immune staining (e.g., no immune complex or anti-GBM staining). Usually this is accompanied by positive ANCA titers, but not necessarily. When…
The case: a 60 year-old woman with a history of metastatic ovarian cancer who presents with a markedly tense, distended abdomen and acute-on-chronic kidney injury, with a Cr which had risen from 1.4 mg/dL to 4.5 mg/dL and…
The first report that lead can cause nephrotoxicity was by Lancereaux in 1863, who observed chronic kidney disease in an artist who habitually would hold paintbrushes in his mouth; there are some who believe that the collapse of…
As I’ve mentioned previously on this blog, the “MUDPALES” mnemonic for anion gap metabolic acidosis is one of the most successful medical mnemonic’s of all time. A less successful (and admittedly less useful) mnemonic exists for non-anion gap…
There is a patient now on the renal consult service with Churg-Strauss Syndrome. This disease falls under the category of “small vessel vasculitis” and most commonly is thought of as a pulmonary disease, as the characteristic triad consists…
It has long been known that acute phosphate toxicity–as might be seen in rhabdomyolysis or tumor lysis syndrome–can lead to acute kidney injury as a result of calcium-phosphate deposition in the renal parenchyma and tubules. Interestingly, this problem…
When discussing the history of dialysis, any renal fellow worth his weight in urine will know that the inventor of the first practical dialysis machine (the “rotating drum” machine shown at left, which consisted of 30-40 meters of…
Lithium is one of the classic dialyzable toxins, as it is very small (atomic # of 3) and elevated Li levels (>2.5 meq/L) may result in tremor, ataxia, vomiting, seizures, or even coma. However it is somewhat unique…