Haemolytic uraemic syndrome

Mini Michael,et al.

Haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) is a heterogeneous group of diseases that result in a common pathology,thrombotic microangiopathy,which is classically characterised by the triad of non-immune microangiopathic haemolytic anaemia,thrombocytopenia,and acute kidney injury.In this Seminar,different causes of HUS are discussed,the most common being Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli HUS.Identifying the underlying thrombotic microangiopathy trigger can be challenging but is imperative if patients are to receive personalised disease-specific treatment.The quintessential example is complement-mediated HUS,which once carried an extremely high mortality but is now treated with anti-complement therapies with excellent long-term outcomes.Unfortunately,the high cost of anti-complement therapies all but precludes their use in low-income countries.For many other forms of HUS,targeted therapies are yet to be identified.