Case Report
Collapsing Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis in
a Patient with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
Hassan Tariq, Arsalan Rafiq, and Giovanni Franchin
Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center, Department of Medicine, 1650 Selwyn Avenue, Suit 10C, Bronx, NY 10457, USA
Correspondence should be addressed to Hassan Tariq; htariq@bronxleb.org
Received 31 May 2014; Revised 15 July 2014; Accepted 29 July 2014; Published 11 August 2014
Academic Editor: W. Zidek
Copyright © 2014 Hassan Tariq et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
We present a case of a 36-year-old female from Ghana who presented with atypical chest pain and shortness of breath and
was found to have bilateral transudative pleural efusion and trivial pericardial efusion. Further work-up revealed serological
markers consistent with active lupus and negative HIV. She developed rapid deterioration of her renal function requiring dialysis.
Her renal biopsy showed collapsing focal segmental glomerulosclerosis with difuse mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis,
consistent with lupus nephritis class II along with tubular degenerative changes. She was started on high dose steroids and later on
mycophenolate mofetil. Her renal function slowly recovered to baseline.
1. Introduction
Collapsing glomerulopathy is segmental or global wrinkling
and collapse of capillary walls and overlying epithelial cell
proliferation [1]. When we trace back literature, irst cases
trace back to 1979 which have been biopsy proven [2]. An
increasing number of cases are being reported as awareness
among health care professionals is increasing [3]. It is a
podocytopathy with distinct clinicopathologic features from
focal segmental glomerulosclerosis as the lesions are charac-
terized by formation of pseudocrescents and by collapse of
capillary loops rather than extracellular matrix accumulation
and glomerulosclerosis being a late manifestation. hree
variants have been described in the literature including idio-
pathic, genetic, and reactive [4]. Collapsing glomeruloscle-
rosis presents with proteinuria, resistant to most available
treatments, and leads to rapid progression towards renal
failure. he usual causes for this manifestation include viral
infections, autoimmune disorders, or drugs. Here we present
a case of a patient with collapsing glomerulosclerosis which
will provide more insight and further research opportuni-
ties in regard to the treatment of this distinct pathologic
condition.
2. Case Presentation
A 36-year-old black woman from Ghana presented to the
ER with complaints of chest pain and shortness of breath
for one day. She was returning from a vacation in Ghana
when she experienced sudden onset of let-sided pleuritic
chest pain during the light, followed by shortness of breath
ater landing. She was diagnosed with Sjogren’s syndrome
when she presented ive years earlier with a vasculitic rash
of lower extremities which showed leukocytoclastic vasculitis
on biopsy. At the time she had positive ANA at 1:1280
titer, positive rheumatoid factor, ESR and CRP elevated, anti-
double stranded DNA negative, anti-SSA positive, anti-SSB
positive, and normal complements. Except for a few recurrent
episodes of rash in lower extremities which responded to
steroids, she remained asymptomatic for a couple of years
prior to the current admission.
She had been recently admitted to a hospital in Ghana
ater being found to have a let-sided pleural efusion and
treated with chest tube insertion for presumed pneumonia.
Review of systems and social history were noncontributory.
Upon admission to our institution, she was afebrile and
showed stable vital signs. Except for decrease breath sounds
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Case Reports in Medicine
Volume 2014, Article ID 732192, 5 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/732192