Serious pulmonary hemorrhage, glomerulonephritis, and massive steroid therapy

A patient suffered from acute glomerulonephritis with modest renal impairment and life-threatening pulmonary hemorrhage. The pulmonary hemorrhage caused severe hypoxia that necessitated artificial ventilation. As a last resort, 1 g/day of methylprednisolone was administered intravenously. Rapid cessation of pulmonary hemorrhage ensued with clearing of the lungs fields. We suggest that large doses of glucocorticosteroids should be administered to patients with life-threatening pulmonary hemorrhage before considering bilateral nephrectomy, especially if the renal function is still adequate. Bilateral nephrectomy is an irreversible approach and, as with massive doses of steroids, has yet to be proved to be a consistently effective mode of therapy.