Thymoma is a rare mediastinal tumour that is often (40%) accompanied by different paraneoplastic syndromes and glomerulonephritis is one of the recognized entities. Minimal change disease is the most common paraneoplastic glomerulonephritis associated with thymoma, followed by membranous nephropathy, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, rapidly proliferative glomerulonephritis and lupus nephritis. Literature review illustrates that most of the thymoma associated nephropathy cases were reported in association with more malignant thymic tumors like WHO grade B and C tumours. Herein we report a rare case of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis in a patient with grade A benign thymoma, a combination which has never been reported previously. She had poor response to corticosteroids and died due to neutropenic sepsis following azathioprine therapy.

BackgroundInfective complications following percutaneous renal biopsy are rare, even among immunocompromised. However it is important to be vigilant about such complications, to detect them early and prevent morbidity and mortality. We report a case of retroperitoneal abscess with extension to subcutaneous plane after a renal biopsy.Case presentationA 42-year-old female with long standing cutaneous lupus underwent renal biopsy for evaluation of nephrotic range proteinuria. She was on high dose prednisolone complicated with steroid induced hyperglycaemia. Eight weeks after the biopsy she presented with left flank pain, malaise and fever. There was a tender subcutaneous induration over the biopsy site. Contrast CT abdomen showed a retroperitoneal abscess with subcutaneous extension along the path of the biopsy needle. This was successfully treated with surgical drainage and broad-spectrum antibiotics.ConclusionsInfections and abscess formation are rare but serious complications of renal biopsy. Immunocompromised state is a potential risk factor. Possible mechanisms and measures for prevention and early detection of this rare complication are discussed.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12882-018-1112-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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