When the glomeruli of the kidney from a patient with symptoms of proliferative nephritis are examined under the microscope, crescents will be normally observed.
When these are subjected to immunofluorescence, three patterns can be observed: linear, granular and negative (pauci-immune).
[1][2] In the setting of systemic vasculitis as described above, proliferative nephritis is associated with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA).
[3] Because of this, an ANCA test should always follow a negative immunofluorescence result to have the highest accuracy for confirming pauci-immune vasculitis-driven proliferative nephritis.
Peak incidences in 50- to 60-year-olds symptoms include intermittent fever / weight loss / shortness of breath / joint pain.