A Rare Presentation of IgA Nephropathy in a 62-Year-Old Hispanic Female

A case of immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy is presented here that demonstrates an unusual clinical presentation in multiple ways and is vitally important for clinicians to consider. The patient is a Hispanic female in her 7th decade of life that presented with nephrotic-range proteinuria without hematuria ultimately leading to a diagnosis of IgA nephropathy. After diagnosis, her clinical course was complicated by continued poorly controlled type II diabetes mellitus and hypertension, and ultimately her kidney disease progressed to chronic kidney disease IV and then end-stage renal disease requiring hemodialysis. Though IgA nephropathy predominantly presents as nephritic syndrome, it can also present as nephrotic range proteinuria and even rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis which should be considered even when the patient's ethnicity and age group carry a smaller risk.