Progression of Membranous Nephropathy to Acute Crescentic Rapidly Progressive Glomerulonephritis and Response to Pulse Methylprednisolone

There have been only sporadic reports of membranous nephropathy (MN) evolving into acute crescentic rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis (AC-RPGN). A patient with MN developed acute oliguric renal failure with a serum creatinine (SCr) of 8.4 mg/dl after 5 years of normal renal function. Biopsy now revealed epithelial crescent formation superimposed on MN. Pulse methylprednisolone resulted in significant improvement in renal function, with a SCr of 2.2 mg/dl at 6 months. No other favorable outcomes occurred in the 4 previous case reports of MN evolving into RPGN. AC-RPGN should be considered a treatable etiology of acute renal failure in the setting of MN.