A Rare Case: Improved Heart Failure with Anti-Complement Therapy in Complement-Dependent Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome

Extrarenal involvement occurs in approximately 20% of patients with complement-mediated hemolytic-uremic syndrome. The involvement is usually of the nervous system, and cardiac involvement occurs in 3%-10% of patients. Cardiac manifestations vary, including myocardial infarction, cardiomyopathy, and acute decompensated heart failure. Among these patients, thrombotic micro angio pathy -rela ted cardiac dysfunction is mainly due to the continuous activation of the complement system, which leads to endothelial damage and thrombosis in the coronary microvessels. We wanted to highlight the importance of cardiac evaluation at the time of diagnosis or during follow-up in thrombotic micro-angiopathy patients by presenting a case of heart failure with low ejection fraction in a 24-year-old young patient in whom we detected complement-mediated hemolytic-uremic syndrome, a secondary mutation of complement factor H receptor. It is still an unknown issue because of the rarity of cardiac involvement in complement-mediated hemolytic-uremic syndrome patients. Primary myocardial involvement is increasingly recognized as a possible concomitant feature of hemolytic-uremic syndrome. Failure to perform a detailed cardiac evaluation both at diagnosis and during follow-up in complement-mediated hemolytic-uremic syndrome patients can lead to fatal outcomes. Anti-complement therapy can also lead to good cardiac outcomes in these patients.

Cite this article as: Özer H, Öztürk Y, Türkmen K, Tonbul ZH, Selçuk NY. A rare case: Improved heart failure with anti-complement therapy in complement-dependent hemolytic uremic syndrome. Turk J Nephrol. 2023;32(1):90-93.