RECURRENCE OF DENSE DEPOSITS IN TRANSPLANTED KIDNEYS .1. SEQUENTIAL SURVEY OF THE LESIONS

Serial specimens from transplanted kidneys were obtained in 11 patients with dense deposit disease (DDD). The recurrence of DDD was obvious in 9 patients and appeared very early after grafting. Three different types of evolution of the lesions were observed. In 4 patients no modification of the lesions occurred with time, and in 2 of them the dense alteration alone persisted without any other glomerular changes. In 3 patients a progression of the lesions was observed, whereas a regression occurred in 1 other patient. From these observations the following sequence of the morphologic changes can be proposed: the dense alteration appears first and constitutes the specific marker of that disease; the C3 deposition in the kidney occurs later following the appearance of the dense lesion.