Association of reduced red blood cell deformability and diabetic nephropathy.

Background: Impaired red blood cell deformability may play a key role in the pathogenesis of chronic vascular complications of diabetes mellitus and progression of renal failure. The present study was conducted to test whether impaired red blood cell deformability is indeed associated with development of diabetic nephropathy.

Methods: We studied 57 adult type 2 diabetic patients divided into three groups according to serum creatinine concentration.

Allograft diabetic nephropathy may progress to end-stage renal disease.

Mesangial expansion and glomerular basement membrane thickening characteristic of diabetic nephropathy recur in diabetic recipients of renal allografts from non-diabetic donors but progression to renal failure is minimally documented. Three female renal allograft recipients (aged 40, 62 and 73 yr), who developed end-stage renal disease (ESRD) due to recurrent diabetic nephropathy (two patients) and de novo diabetes (one patient) are reported. Onset of proteinuria, uncontrolled hypertension, azotemia, renal allograft pathologic findings and the need for hemodialysis were analyzed.