Idiopathic retroperitoneal fibrosis presented as an abdominal mass and nephrotic syndrome.

Abstract

We present a 30-year-old male patient who was initially diagnosed as minimal change nephrotic syndrome, 5 years later, the patient developed a localized form of idiopathic retroperitoneal fibrosis (IRF). An elevated ESR and concomitant nephrotic syndrome in the patient suggested the immunologic nature of IRF, IRF has been reported in association with collagen diseases and rarely with proliferative and nonproliferative glomerulopathies. To our knowledge, the association between minimal change lesion (MC) and IRF has not been reported. Furthermore, the fact that IRF presented itself as an abdominal mass and lacked systemic symptoms was also unusual.