Acute oliguric renal failure complicating type A nonfulminant viral hepatitis. A case presentation and review of the literature.

Nonfulminant acute renal failure very rarely complicates type A viral hepatitis. So far only eight patients have been described in the English language, Japanese, or Israeli literature who had type A viral hepatitis with renal failure without any association with "hepatorenal syndrome," pregnancy, or other types of viral hepatitis. We describe a 52-year-old man with type A viral hepatitis, proven by IgM anti-A virus antibodies complicated by oliguric renal failure, which required hemodialysis. The patient recovered completely after a few weeks. Kidney biopsy demonstrated interstitial nephritis with no glomerular involvement. Review of the literature in relation to the causes and the rarity of the renal failure is included.