Acute renal failure due to intravascular hemolysis in the North Indian patients

Acute renal failure due to intravascular hemolysis is a common clinical problem in North Indian patients. It constituted 21.5 percent of 325 patients dialyzed for acute renal failure over an 11-year period at Chandigarh. Thirty patients had developed acute intravascular hemolysis in association with erythrocyte glucose-6 phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6PD) deficiency, 17 due to copper sulphate intoxication and 8 due to envenomation by snakes. Less frequent causes were insect stings, incompatible blood transfusion, intake of anti-leprosy drug--dapsone in non-G-6PD-deficient patients, and mercuric chloride toxicity in two patients each; naphthalene poisoning in one; and uncertain causes in six patients. Renal histology was available in 55 patients. Acute tubular necrosis was seen in 54 and bilateral diffuse cortical necrosis in one patient. Fifty patients (71.43 percent) survived and 20(28.6 percent) diet. G-6PD erythrocyte deficiency, which is present in 4.5 percent of the North Indian population, was the most frequent cause of acute renal failure in this group.