[Goodpasture's disease or syndrome? Apropos of a case]

Abstract

Goodpasture's disease is characterized by lung haemorrhage, associated with glomerulus basement membrane antibody glomerulonephritis, and circulating basement membrane antibody. Other diseases (Wegener, LES, arteritis) may have the same kidney and lung involvement. The Authors present a clinical case of rapidly progressive renal failure where renal biopsy showed an extensive extracapillary proliferative glomerulonephritis with linear deposits of antibody in the basement membrane, similar to Goodpasture's disease, with following lung involvement, but without hemoptysis and in absence of circulating antiglomerular basement membrane antibody. The Authors think it could be a case of Goodpasture's disease, even if it did not show the above-mentioned symptoms, whether out of the characteristic clinical course or the exclusion of all the other diseases. The Authors believe that the absence of circulating basement membrane antibody could be due to their sediment in the target organs and suggest a revision of the standards required for the Goodpasture's disease diagnosis.