Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis: A Prototype Fibrocyte Disease

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Historical Context

• The Affected Population

  • Renal Disease

  • Dialysis

  • Renal transplantation

  • Other Comorbidities

    • Hypercoagulability, thrombosis, and endothelial injury

    • Other systemic processes

• Presentation

  • Signs, Symptoms and Progression

  • Diagnosis

    • Laboratory investigation

    • Biopsy and histopathology

    • Ancillary studies

  • Treatment

    • Renal transplantation

    • Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP)

    • Plasmapheresis

    • Other considerations

• Discussion

  • Circulating Fibrocytes

    • A basic conceptual model and possible triggers

    • The newest suspect: Endothelin-I

    • Fibrosis via accretion — a proposal

    • Fibrosis via exogenous substances — an alternate hypothesis

• Acknowledgment

• References