Renal papillary necrosis in haemophilia and christmas disease.

Haematuria is common in haemophilia and Christmas disease. A variety of radiological abnormalities in the urinary tract has been described in the literature, the commonest being hydronephrosis and obstructive uropathy. The findings in 26 cases seen in this centre were reported by Beck and Evans in 1972; although urinary-tract obstruction was relatively common, it was noted that signs suggestive of renal papillary necrosis (RPN) were present in some cases. In the present study, 20 of these patients were reinvestigated up to 10 years after the original radiological studies; a total number of 46 past and present intravenous urograms were examined. There was evidence of RPN in 11 of the 20 patients, and in five of these the signs had changed over the intervening period. The relevance of these findings is discussed; none of the patients showed evidence of renal failure. It is suggested that episodes of urinary-tract obstruction could be related to papillary sloughing, in some cases, rather than clot obstruction or obstruction due to retroperitoneal bleeding.