Lupus nephritis. New sonographic findings.

The value of sonography in the evaluation of patients with lupus nephritis has been limited to determination of location and size of the kidneys and the exclusion of hydronephrosis; quantitative estimation of the severity of renal compromise by sonographic appearance is less accurate than laboratory tests. Similarly, the lack of specificity of the sonographic changes in most nephritities makes sonography a poor predictor of the underlying etiology. We report a previously undescribed sonographic pattern first recognized in two cases of proven lupus nephritis. We successfully used this pattern to predict the presence of "silent" lupus nephritis in a previously undiagnosed case of systemic lupus erythematosus.