Thrombotic microangiopathy: An unusual cause of renal failure in rheumatoid arthritis.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the commonest rheumatological diseases. Renal involvement is not common but can occur as a result of chronic inflammation as part of disease process or drug toxicity. Thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) is characterized by microangiopathic hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, and organ failure of variable severity. Only a few cases of TMA in patients with RA were reported to date. We describe a 45-year-old female patient with RA who presented with oliguria and edema. Renal biopsy showed TMA with patchy cortical necrosis. She improved with hemodialysis and plasmapheresis.
Department of Nephrology, Madras Medical College and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
R
R
Sakthirajan
Department of Nephrology, Madras Medical College and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
J
J
Dhanapriya
Department of Nephrology, Madras Medical College and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
T
T
Dineshkumar
Department of Nephrology, Madras Medical College and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
N
N
Gopalakrishnan
Department of Nephrology, Madras Medical College and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
S
S
Murugan
Department of Nephrology, Madras Medical College and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
T
T
Balasubramaniyan
Hemodialysis; plasmapheresis; renal biopsy; rheumatoid arthritis