Recurrence of paraneoplastic membranous glomerulonephritis following chemoradiation in a man with non-small-cell lung carcinoma

Membranous glomerulonephritis can occur as a rare paraneoplastic complication of human cancers. In this case report, we describe a patient who presented acutely with symptoms of the nephrotic syndrome including heavy proteinuria and anasarca. He was subsequently diagnosed with membranous glomerulonephritis, and soon afterwards was found to have stage IIIB non-small cell lung cancer. Following chemoradiation therapy, both the patient’s cancer and membranous glomerulonephritis dramatically improved. However, approximately 14 months following his initial presentation, the patient was found to have a recurrence of his nephrotic-range proteinuria which corresponded temporally with recurrence of his cancer. We present details of the case and a review of the relevant scientific literature.