RECURRENT MEMBRANOUS LUPUS NEPHRITIS AFTER RENAL-TRANSPLANTATION - A CASE-REPORT AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Recurrent lupus nephritis in transplanted kidneys is rare. To the best of our knowledge, we report only the second case of recurrent membranous lupus nephritis in an allograft 8 years after transplantation. Unlike the first case, our patient received a transplant from a living-related donor rather than a cadaver. Disease “burn-out,” the use of immunosuppressive drugs, and treatment of recurrence as rejection have all been offered as possible explanations for the rarity of recurrence. The majority of cases represent recurrence of the original disease and, in most, involve proliferative lesions, although a variety of histologic patterns and transformations have been reported. © 1994, National Kidney Foundation. All rights reserved. All rights reserved.