Case history
Case history
A 52-year-old man presents to his physician complaining of one week of progressively worsening weakness, anorexia, malaise, cough, and dark urine. He reports feeling bad for the past few weeks and thought that he was simply recovering slowly from an upper respiratory tract infection. Over the past two days he has been alarmed to notice small amounts of blood in his sputum. He has been having some shortness of breath. He has no prior personal or family history of renal disease. He has been a smoker for 30 years and he smokes a packet of cigarettes a day. He works as a car mechanic.
Other presentations
Patients with anti-glomerular basement membrane (anti-GBM) antibodies can present with symptoms of pulmonary disease, symptoms of renal disease, or a combination of both; 30% to 40% of patients have isolated renal disease without any pulmonary disease.[1] It is also possible, but rare, for patients to present with isolated pulmonary disease.[2] Common symptoms on presentation include cough, haemoptysis, SOB, dark urine, decreasing urine output and leg swelling.[3]
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