1. Glomerulonephritis in Leprosy
- Author
-
Wing Ling Ng, Andrew Hua, and David M. Scollard
- Subjects
Male ,Pathology ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Biopsy ,Urology ,Antigen-Antibody Complex ,Kidney ,Pathogenesis ,Erythema Nodosum ,Glomerulonephritis ,Leprosy ,medicine ,Humans ,Immune Complex Diseases ,In patient ,Immune complex glomerulonephritis ,Immune mechanisms ,Lepromatous leprosy ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,business.industry ,Incidence (epidemiology) ,General Medicine ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,Dermatology ,Renal biopsy ,business - Abstract
A renal biopsy from a patient with lepromatous leprosy but no history of erythrema nodosum leprosum (ENL) showed histologic, immunofluorescent, and ultrastructural features typical of immune-complex glomerulonephritis. A literature review found reports of 187 renal biopsies from leprosy patients, with glomerulonephritis in 31% of the cases, and a variety of other renal lesions. This accumulated evidence demonstrates that, contrary to widely held opinion, there is no association between glomerulonephritis and a history of ENL. Furthermore, it suggests that glomerulonephritis in leprosy patients has a similar incidence in lepromatous and non-lepromatous cases. These observations have an important bearing on concepts regarding the pathogenesis of immune complex glomerulonephritis in leprosy and the humoral immune mechanisms in patients with leprosy.
- Published
- 1982