Obstructive polyuric renal failure following renal transplantation

In a previously nephrectomized patient with a well functioning renal allograft, acute renal failure with massive polyuria and hypertension developed. Relief of a periureteric obstruction resulted in rapid correction of all three. Pathogenesis of hypotonic polyuria is thought to be a defect in the collecting duct permeability to water, simulating nephrogenic diabetes insipidus. Normal urinary dilution and acidification suggest intact function of the ascending loop of Henle and distal convoluted tubules. The quick reversal of polyuria and renal failure after obtaining relief of the obstruction suggest that both the decrease in the glomerular filtration rate and tubular dysfunctions are due to functional changes in the nephron rather than to organic damage, a possibility also borne out by the findings in a renal biopsy specimen showing normal glomeruli and intact tubular epithelial cells. Ureteric obstruction should be considered in any patient with renal failure and polyuria; it may be a correctable cause of hypertension.