Renal vascular lesions in lupus nephritis – a report of 3 cases

Abstract

Renal vascular lesions are observed in up to 82% of renal biopsies of lupus nephritis (LN),1 however, may be overlooked during reporting as the current classification is based on glomerular lesions only. Vascular lesions are linked to several diseases besides LN and are increasingly recognised as an important indicator of LN disease progression and treatment outcome. We report findings from renal biopsies of three patients with LN class IV. Two of the patients had thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA), one of whom had co-existent arteriosclerosis (AS), and one patient had non-inflammatory necrotising vasculopathy (NNV).