Necrotising glomerulonephritis associated with cholesterol microemboli.

Embolisation of cholesterol in the kidneys may result in severe, irreversible renal failure. Antemortem diagnosis can sometimes be established by renal biopsy when characteristic crystalline clefts are seen in arterial lumens and ischaemic changes in the renal parenchyma. Although fibrinoid necrosis of small vessels has been associated with microemboli of cholesterol, necrotising angiitis in the kidney has not been reported as a manifestation of cholesterol embolisation. We describe a case of necrotising glomerulonephritis associated with cholesterol microemboli in an elderly man with extensive aortic atheromatosis.