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The following is a summary of “Renal involvement in solid cancers: epidemiological, clinical and histological characteristics study of 154 onconephrology patients,” published in the October 2024 issue of Nephrology by Gueutin et al. 

Onconephrology improves care for people with cancer and kidney disease, though vital kidney pathology data remains limited. 

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to examine the clinical, epidemiological, and histological features of kidney involvement in people with solid cancers. 

They retrospectively analyzed clinicobiological and histological data from people with active cancer who underwent a kidney biopsy (KB) between 2014 and 2020. 

The results showed that the cohort consisted of 154 people (83 women) with a mean age of 58 years. Among them, 112 had proteinuria, 95 had acute kidney injury, and 59 had arterial hypertension. Histologically, interstitial fibrosis was present in 74% of KBs, tubular atrophy in 55.1%, arteriolar hyalinosis in 58.4%, and fibrous endarteritis in 54.4%. Acute lesions included thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) in 29.9%, acute tubular necrosis (ATN) in 51.3%, and acute interstitial nephritis in 24.8%. The most common diagnosis was anticancer drug nephrotoxicity (87 patients), followed by pre-renal causes (15 patients) and kidney disease unrelated to cancer (13 patients). About 67 patients had at least 2 diagnoses, showing the complexity of kidney damage in cancer, with immunotherapy and anti-VEGF drugs most frequently involved. 

The study concluded that treatment-related kidney toxicity is the most common cause of kidney damage in patients with cancer, with various mechanisms involved, highlighting the importance of KB and complex management. 

Source: bmcnephrol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12882-024-03812-7#Abs1