Acute Kidney Injury Secondary to Hypercalcemia in a Kidney Transplant Patient With Pneumocystis jirovecii Pneumonia: A Case Report

Abstract

Background: Persistent hyperparathyroidism is one of the main causes of hypercalcemia following kidney transplantation; differential diagnosis is required.

Case presentation: We report the case of a 61-year-old kidney transplant recipient who underwent transplant in September 2016. She was admitted in March 2017 presenting with a 3-week history of asthenia, hypotension, and cough. Laboratory analysis showed acute kidney injury with hypercalcemia and elevation of inflammatory markers. She was initially treated with hydration therapy. A few days after admission she developed respiratory failure: chest computed tomography showed a ground-glass pattern. A diagnosis of Pneumocystis jirovecii was made on bronchoalveolar lavage. A subsequent graft biopsy was performed that revealed intratubular calcium deposition without signs of rejection. The patient was given trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, with improvement in pulmonary and renal function as well as improvement in hypercalcemia.

Conclusions: P jirovecii infection can trigger activation of intra-alveolar macrophages that leads to extrarenal vitamin D production with subsequent hypercalcemia. This rare event should be considered in renal transplant patients with pulmonary infection accompanied by hypercalcemia. In our case, hypercalcemia also provoked acute kidney injury.