Atypical Goodpasture's disease: a clinical case report and literature review

Goodpasture's disease (anti-GBM disease) is a rare small vessels vasculitis characterized by the presence of autoantibodies directed against the glomerular basement membrane (GBM) and alveolar basement membrane. Common feature of anti-GBM disease is a combination of rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis and alveolar hemorrhage (pulmonary-renal syndrome). We present a case of atypical disease course in a young male patient who developed alveolar hemorrhage without renal failure. The only symptom of renal involvement was isolated hematuria. Plasmapheresis combined with immunosuppression (cyclophosphamide and corticosteroids) was effective. We present a review of state-of-art data on the pathogenesis and disease course of anti-GBM disease.