Images in Clinical Medicine

Kim Eagle, M.D., Editor

Dysmorphic Urinary Erythrocytes

Theodore F. Saad, M.D.

N Engl J Med 1996; 334:1440May 30, 1996

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Article

Figure 1 A kidney biopsy in a 34-year-old man with IgA nephropathy showed mesangial-cell proliferation and predominant mesangial IgA deposition. At the time of the biopsy, the patient's serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen levels were 1.3 mg per deciliter (110 μmol per liter) and 13 mg per deciliter (4.6 mmol per liter), respectively. Microscopical examination of the urine revealed many dysmorphic urinary erythrocytes with spheroid surface protrusions (Panel A, ×1450) indicative of glomerular hematuria. A glomerular erythrocyte ghost (Panel B, ×3250) has a small neck at the base of each surface protrusion, demonstrating its connection with the cytoplasm of the cell. Urinary erythrocytes with surface protrusions such as those shown here are present in large numbers only with pathologic glomerular bleeding. (Differential interference contrast microscopy, ×1000).

Kim Eagle, M.D.

Theodore F. Saad, M.D.
University of Texas Health Science, Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78284

Citing Articles (2)

Citing Articles

1. 1

   Thomas L. Pallone, John C. Papadimitriou. (2000) Case Records of the VA Maryland Healthcare System/ University of Maryland Medicine. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences 320:3, 195-201
   CrossRef

2. 2

   (1996) Diagnostic Value of Dysmorphic Urinary Red Cells. New England Journal of Medicine 335:17, 1323-1323
   Full Text

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