Kidney Transplant Graftectomy by Severe Mixed-Type Rejection with Acute and Chronic Active Vascular Lesions at Entire Levels of the Renal Vasculature

Abstract

Vascular lesions related to allograft rejection have a big impact on graft survival. As such, investigation of these lesions is important to understand the pathophysiology of rejection and its management. We report a case of kidney transplant graftectomy by severe mixed-type rejection with acute and chronic active vascular lesions caused by non-adherence to immunosuppressive treatment. The patient presented is a 29-year-old male who received a kidney transplantation in July 2011 (ABO compatible) from his father. He then did not come to the hospital for 3 months prior to his admission and also made his own decision to stop his medication regimen. On October 2013, the patient came to the hospital with dyspnea, nausea, and vomiting and had significant renal dysfunction (serum Cr 30.4 mg/dL, BUN 191 mg/dL). A kidney graft biopsy showed cortical necrosis with severe interstitial hemorrhage and thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA). Despite steroid pulse therapy, kidney graft function did not recover, and the patient underwent a subsequent graft resection. The resected kidney graft displayed various vascular lesions from the renal artery to the interlobular arteries and arterioles including endarteritis, TMA, fibrinoid necrosis, and transplant arteriopathy. This case shows the detailed pathological findings of the vascular lesions in the entire artery tree of kidney allograft, and the pathophysiology is discussed.