rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis
Last reviewed 01/2018
This type of glomerulonephritis is also known as crescenteric glomerulonephritis after the 'crescents' seen on light microscopy. These crescents are collections of epithelial cells and macrophages within Bowman's space.
The presence of crescents indicates that glomerular damage is rapid and progressive (from onset to endstage renal failure within weeks to months).
Immunofluorescence detects deposits of IgG or complement factor C3 in the glomerular basement membrane. There are three distributions of immunofluorescence in crescentic glomerulonephritis:
- absent immunofluorescence
- granular immunofluorescence
- linear immunofluorescence