Document Type

Article

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

Abstract

A 34-year-old male was referred for management of bladder cancer noted on workup for gross hematuria and new-onset irritative voiding symptoms. The patient's history was significant for recently diagnosed granulomatosis with polyangiitis for which he was undergoing treatment with oral cyclophosphamide and corticosteroids. Cystoscopy revealed lesions suspicious for malignancy, but the patient was diagnosed with hemorrhagic cystitis secondary to BK virus infection upon cytology review, and immunostaining confirmed a polyomavirus infection of the urothelium. The patient's symptoms resolved after a modification of his immunosuppressive regimen, and antiviral therapy was ultimately unnecessary. Though symptomatic BK virus infection of the genitourinary tract is common in immunosuppressed transplant patients, its occurrence in a patient undergoing immunomodulation for an autoimmune disease has not been reported yet. This case illustrates the potential for active BK virus infections in atypical patient populations and underscores the importance of rigorous hematuria workup, particularly in patients with multiple risk factors.

Comments

Originally published in :

Case Rep Nephrol Urol. 2014 May-Aug; 4(2): 120–125. Published online Jun 4, 2014. doi: 10.1159/000363692 PMCID: PMC4086036 Copyright © 2014 by S. Karger AG, Basel This is an Open Access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC) (www.karger.com/OA-license), applicable to the online version of the article only. Users may download, print and share this work on the Internet for noncommercial purposes only, provided the original work is properly cited, and a link to the original work on http://www.karger.com and the terms of this license are included in any shared versions.

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