Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria with renal failure.

A patient with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) associated with acute renal failure survived the episode of acute renal failure with return of renal function towards normal. Postmortem examination failed to reveal evidence of significant underlying renal disease. Acute renal failure following intense hemoglobinuria in PNH can occur in the absence of underlying renal disease. When chronic renal failure supervenes in patients with chronic hemoglobinuria, renal disease, presumably unrelated to the hemoglobinuria, is an almost uniform finding.