RAPIDLY PROGRESSIVE GLOMERULONEPHRITIS CONCOMITANT WITH DIABETIC NEPHROPATHY

We describe a rare case of a rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis (R PGN) superimposed on diabetic nephropathy. A 68-year-old woman with no n-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) complicated with diabeti c triopathy demonstrated a rapid deterioration of renal function. Her urinary sediment contained many red blood cell (RBC) cells and casts, suggesting an additional renal disease accompanying diabetic nephropat hy. Renal biopsy revealed crescent formation in many glomeruli charact eristic of the pauci-immune type of RPGN. Steroid pulse therapy transi ently halted the deterioration in renal function, but the patient died of pneumonia complicated with methicillin-resistant staphylococcus au reus (MRSA) infection. The unusual findings in diabetic nephropathy in dicated the coexistence of primary glomerulonephritis and diabetic glo merulosclerosis in this case.