International Journal of Health Sciences and Research www.ijhsr.org ISSN: 2249-9571

Emphysematous pyelonephritis is a severe, uncommon, potentially fatal necrotizing pyelonephritis with a variable clinical presentation, ranging from mild abdominal pain to septic shock. The majority of cases occur in diabetics with poor glycemic control while a small percentage may be due to urinary tract obstruction. We present a case of a 57 year old male patient, diabetic on treatment, presenting with left flank pain and poor stream of urine since one week. Laboratory tests revealed that the patient had electrolyte imbalance, ketoacidosis and high blood sugar. Radiological examination gave a diagnosis of Left Type 1 Emphysematous Pyelonephritis. In spite of giving vigorous resuscitation and antibiotics with nephrostomy, the patient had to undergo nephrectomy due to extensive renal parenchymal destruction. The nephrectomy specimen was studied in detail to know the histopathological findings in a case of diabetic patient with emphysematous pyelonephritis. We present this case not only because of it being a rare complication of diabetes as well rarely seen in male but also to focus on the histopathological findings of the same, documentation of which is limited in literature