Acute renal failure due to oxalate ingestion.

A 47-year-old man presented with acute renal failure following oxalate ingestion. Nausea and hematoemesis appeared four hours after attempted suicide and acute oliguric renal failure ensued the following day. The patient underwent four sessions of hemodialysis and then reverted to normal state. Histopathologic examination of renal biopsy specimen revealed the degeneration of the renal tubular epithelial cells associated with intracellular calcium oxalate crystal deposition. Most of the renal tubules were patent despite the intraluminar crystal deposition. These findings suggest that dysfunction of the renal tubular epithelial cell plays a more important role than tubular obstruction in developing acute renal failure.