Acute renal failure secondary to chronic lymphocytic leukemia: a case report

Acute renal insufficiency associated with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) has a variety of causes. An extremely rare cause of renal dysfunction is dense leukemic infiltrate in the renal interstitium. This report describes a patient with CLL who developed acute renal failure secondary to leukemic infiltration and who had a partial response to chemotherapy. This diagnosis should always be considered when a patient with CLL, regardless of the clinical stage, presents with renal insufficiency because it appears to respond reasonably well to a variety of therapies. The finding of enlarged kidneys on renal ultrasound is suggestive of infiltrative disease, but is not always present. Proteinuria is generally mild. The literature is reviewed.