Dialysis-associated renal cystic disease resembling autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease: A report of two cases

Acquired renal cystic disease is common in patients receiving dialysis. Cha racteristically, the kidneys are small or, less often, normal in size, and the cysts are usually less than 0.6 cm in diameter. We present here 2 patie nts who, after 5 and 7 years on hemodialysis, developed marked renal enlarg ement, with large cysts in the kidneys and, in 1 patient, in the liver as w ell; the appearance on ultrasonography and computed tomography was indistin guishable from autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. Before startin g dialysis the first patient was a 19-year-old man who developed renal shut down from crescentic glomerulonephritis, and the second patient was a 33-ye ar-old man who developed end-stage renal failure from malignant hypertensio n. Neither patient had renal cysts at the onset of end-stage renal failure.