Acute oligo-anuric renal failure during the course of non-fulminant hepatitis A in a patient with anorexia nervosa.

Acute renal failure is a very rare complication seen during the course of non- fulminant hepatitis A. Several mechanisms have been postulated in the pathogenesis of renal failure. Firstly, there is insufficiency of renal blood flow due to developing endotoxemia or cryoglobulinemia, secondly mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis or interstitial nephritis occurs due to immune complexes and finally there is acute tubular necrosis caused by the direct cytopathic effect of the virus or due to immune complexes. The following case report describes a 17 year old male patient admitted with complaints of appetite loss and severe weight loss due to anorexia nervosa. During the second week of admission, he developed hepatitis A infection which was complicated by acute renal failure requiring hemodialysis therapy. Hepatorenal parameters returned to normal values by the fifth week of admission in this case of biopsy proven acute tubular necrosis. In this case, the possible negative effects of malnutrition on the liver and kidneys were not observed. The present authors emphasize that during the course of non- fulminant hepatitis A, renal functions should be closely monitored and renal biopsy should be performed if acute renal failure occurs.