Acute Renal Failure in Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria

It has been reported that paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) kidneys are prone to urinary tract infection, variable functional or anatomical abnormalities, renal venous or intrarenal microvascular thromboembolic events, and variable courses of renal failure. Acute renal failure which is rarely developed in PNH patients is often associated with infection, hemolytic crisis or thrombotic complications. A 40- year-old man, who has been treated as iron deficiency anemia and duodenal ulcer for about 2 months, presented with urinary tract infection, intravascular hemolytic anemia, cholestasis, thrombocytopenia, and acute renal failure. Subsequently he showed progressively aggravating azotemia and refractory hypervolemia during evaluation, and then he eventually was diagnosed as PNH. So, we report a case of PNH which was diagnosed due to the advent of acute renal failure possibly due to hemolytic crisis precipitated by urinary tract infection and documented by flow cytometry, kidney magnetic resonance imaging, and renal biopsy. (Korean J Nephrol 2006;25(1):91-97)