Eosinophiluria in atheroembolic renal disease
Article Abstract:
Atheroembolic renal disease (AERD) is a kidney disorder characterized by atheroembolism, in which fatty plaques develop within the walls of arteries that supply the kidneys, blocking the internal diameter of the vessels and leading to the development of emboli, or fragments of undissolved matter in the circulating blood. AERD may result in kidney failure, particularly in patients with atherosclerosis, or the accumulation of cholesterol plaques and the overgrowth of cells within arteries. AERD-related kidney failure may also develop in patients who have undergone medical procedures on major blood vessels, such as the abdominal aorta, renal arteries, and coronary arteries. In AERD, blood vessels measuring 50 to 200 microns in diameter are extensively occluded, or blocked. AERD is diagnosed most often by biopsy, or tissue sampling of the kidney. However, many patients with AERD can not tolerate a biopsy due to severe illness; consequently, another approach to identifying AERD is needed. AERD has been associated with low blood levels of complement, a set of proteins that is capable of destroying bacteria and other foreign cells; eosinophilia, an increase in eosinophils, a type of granular white blood cell; and thrombocytopenia, an abnormal decrease in platelets, a cell involved in blood clotting. Eosinophiluria, the presence of eosinophils in the urine, has been associated with several kidney diseases, but has not been established in AERD. The prevalence of eosinophiluria was assessed in 24 patients with AERD. Among nine patients with eosinophiluria, seven had blood vessel disease; three had undergone procedures on the abdominal aorta; and three had atheroembolism. Eosinophils accounted for more than five percent of the white blood cells in the urine of six patients. A specific staining preparation, the Hansel's stain for eosinophils, was effective in identifying eosinophils in the urine in eight of nine patients with AERD. In previous studies of patients with this disease, the inability to detect eosinophiluria may have been due to the use of an inappropriate stain preparation. These findings show that eosinophiluria may serve as a useful indicator of AERD and other kidney diseases. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: American Journal of Medicine
Subject: Health care industry
ISSN: 0002-9343
Year: 1991
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
A retrospective analysis of the natural history of primary IgA nephropathy worldwide
Article Abstract:
Primary immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy is a type of kidney disease associated with abnormalities of the immune or natural defense system, particularly the immune protein IgA. The prevalence, clinical characteristics, and immunological features of 68 cases of IgA nephropathy were assessed in relation to geographic distribution. The cases of IgA nephropathy were grouped into geographic regions including Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. IgA nephropathy appears to affect more males than females, particularly in the second and third decades of life. The disease is associated with small degrees of hematuria (blood in the urine) and mild proteinuria (protein in the urine) in Asians, but extensive hematuria in Americans and Europeans. A microscopic degree of hematuria can be detected in most Asian and European patients at the time of kidney biopsy or tissue sampling, whereas larger amounts of blood in the urine are observed by kidney biopsy in American patients. Kidney lesions tend to be mild in Asian patients, but severe and associated with immune abnormalities in American and European patients. The differences in results from different geographic regions may be related to the lack of urinalysis screening programs in Europe and North America, and the different approaches to kidney biopsy in the western and eastern parts of the world. Because of the high incidence of impaired kidney function and advanced kidney failure associated with IgA nephropathy, urinalysis screening programs in schools and a policy for kidney biopsy are recommended for the western world. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: American Journal of Medicine
Subject: Health care industry
ISSN: 0002-9343
Year: 1990
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
- Abstracts: Consequences of hospital financial distress. A comparative analysis of revenue and cost-management strategies of not-for-profit and for-profit hospitals
- Abstracts: Diabetic retinopathy: can we modify its course? Diabetic nephropathy: can the natural history be modified? Autonomic influence on cardiovascular performance in diabetic subjects
- Abstracts: Risk factors for nosocomial pneumonia in the elderly. Gram-negative bacillary pneumonia in the nosocomial setting: role of aztreonam therapy
- Abstracts: Blood gas analysis as a determinant of occupationally related disability. Evaluation of flu-like symptoms in workers handling xanthan gum powder
- Abstracts: The identification of occupational lung disease from hospital discharge data. Cohort and case-control analyses of workers exposed to vinyl chloride: an update