A Case of Pyelonephritis in an Anuric Patient with End-Stage Renal Disease on Hemodialysis

Urinary tract infections are common sources of infections requiring antibiotic use worldwide. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, especially those with minimal urine output are challenging when it comes to antibiotic stewardship given the scarcity of cases in the literature. It is further complicated by the fact that end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients are found to have asymptomatic pyuria and its clinical significance for bacterial infection is yet to be determined. In this case, we report a patient who presented with non-specific symptoms including fever, cough, chills, diarrhea, nausea and was found to have left-sided perinephric stranding on CT scan of the abdomen. The patient also had a fever of 104.6 F which we attributed to left-sided pyelonephritis given the high sensitivity of such findings on CT scan. In this report, we explored the literature for the incidence and management of pyelonephritis in ESRD patients who are anuric.