Acute Renal Failure in a Patient With Polycystic Kidney Disease

Abstract

THE USUAL course of adult polycystic kidney disease is variable, although most patients experience slowly progressive renal failure.^1-4Rapid deterioration in renal function, however, is rarely seen unless some acute process supervenes.^1,2We saw a patient with polycystic kidney disease in whom microscopic hematuria and acute renal failure developed. The cause of the renal failure did not become apparent until RBC casts were noted from a urine sediment examination. This finding led to renal biopsy and a diagnosis of idiopathic crescentic rapid progressive glomerulonephritis (RPGN). <h3>Report of a Case</h3> A 69-year-old woman was admitted on April 19, 1980, for progressive, acute renal failure. Adult polycystic kidney disease had been diagnosed by intravenous pyelogram in 1977 and by B-mode sonography in 1979 and 1980. Cysts were also found in the liver in 1979 and 1980. There is no family history of kidney disease, but three older brothers died of