Chronic pyelonephritis lenta and the "malignant phase of hypertension".

Abstract

In many texts on pathology and internal medicine, and even in recent publications, malignant nephrosclerosis is often regarded as the anatomical counterpart of malignant hypertension. Studying a number of such reports, we became aware that malignant nephrosclerosis cannot possibly be one single or one well-defined entity, since the descriptions of such kidneys are very much at variance, and since the various cases present somewhat different findings. As a matter of fact, changes characteristic of not only one but of several diseases may be found in some instances in one kidney. In recent years, there has been a guarded, but generally progressive, acceptance of pyelonephritis as a factor in the pathogenesis of malignant hypertension. 1 , 2 Recently, also, emphasis has been placed on the insidious course and the high incidence of urinary tract infections. 3-11 However, even in recent publications, the kidney lesions of most cases of malignant hypertension remain ascribed