Leukemic urate nephropathy

This report describes the electron microscopic changes observed in the kidneys of a boy of 10 with urate nephropathy, who subsequently manifested overt acute lymphatic leukemia. The tubules appear to be the primary sites of injury in renal failure and urate nephropathy associated with leukemia. Tubular injury is not always associated with precipitation and phagocytosis of crystals, except in the collecting tubules where cellular changes are invariably caused by intraluminal crystallization of urates. The electron microscopic observations in this case may apply to urate nephropathy of various causes.