Treatment and long-term follow-up of patients with stage II to III idiopathic membranous nephropathy.

Many important aspects of the therapeutic approach to patients with idiopathic membranous nephropathy are still controversial. There are several reports that the effectiveness of therapy depends on histological staging and severity of interstitial mononuclear cell infiltration. We used several different treatments in 39 patients with stage II to III primary membranous nephropathy with proteinuria more than 2.5 g/d, without hypertension and chronic renal failure at biopsy. Ten patients were not treated, 13 were treated with only steroids, 13 with alternate use of steroids and chlorambucil, and three with cyclosporine A. The follow-up period was 5 to 10 years. Statistics included Kruskall-Wallis and one-way ANOVA analysis. A significant decrease in proteinuria was noted in patients treated with steroids (P < 0.01), from 8.45 +/- 1.04 g/d (mean +/- SEM) to 1. 42 +/- 0.45 g/d after follow-up of 5 years and in patients treated with steroids and chlorambucil (12.9 +/- 2.4 g/d [mean +/- SEM] to 2. 46 +/- 1.38 g/d). Compared with patients treated with steroids (15. 3%) and patients treated with steroids and chlorambucil (15.3%), untreated patients had a high frequency of chronic renal failure after 5 years of follow-up (70%) and had a significant increase in mean serum creatinine (P = 0.008). We conclude that steroid therapy alone, or associated with chlorambucil, is effective in patients with stage II to III membranous nephropathy. Patients responded with a decrease of proteinuria and stable renal function during the long-term follow-up period. The group of patients treated with cyclosporine A was too small to analyze.

Collapsing glomerulopathy: clinical characteristics and follow-up.

In 1986, Weiss et al reported a group of patients with nephrotic syndrome, progressive chronic renal failure, and the histopathologic features of glomerular capillary collapse. Similar lesions are often described in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) nephropathy. We evaluated 893 consecutive nontransplant renal biopsies performed in our department and the follow-up of the patients at our outpatient service. Sixteen specimens were identified with the pathological features of collapsing glomerulopathy (focal segmental or global glomerular capillary collapse and visceral epithelial cell hyperplasia), with no evidence of HIV infection and/or intravenous drug abuse. Their clinical characteristics were analyzed and compared with a group of 29 patients with noncollapsing focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). The follow-up period of both patient groups was 5 +/- 1.46 years. The Kaplan-Meier life table method was used to present survival of the patients. The age of both groups was similar, 34 +/- 4 years (mean +/- standard error of the mean) for patients with collapsing glomerulopathy and 35 +/- 3 years for those with FSGS. The serum creatinine level was greater in patients with collapsing glomerulopathy (183 +/- 31 micromol/L) compared with those with FSGS (115 +/- 18 micromol/L), but the difference was not significant (P = 0.0504). The difference in proteinuria was not significant (P = 0.7668); it was 5.83 +/- 0.74 g/d in patients with collapsing glomerulopathy and 5.42 +/- 0.84 g/d in those with focal sclerosing glomerulonephritis. The difference in systolic (P = 0.4) and diastolic blood pressure (P = 0.556) was also not significant. Survival of the patients with collapsing glomerulopathy was worse than that of patients with FSGS (P = 0.025). Renal function survived 5 years in 40% of the patients with FSGS, but patients with collapsing glomerulopathy had no renal function survival. Our data suggest that idiopathic collapsing glomerulopathy is a distinct clinicopathologic entity with similar clinical features to focal sclerosing glomerulonephritis, but a worse prognosis and a rapidly progressive course toward end-stage renal disease.

Survival of patients on chronic hemodialysis: single center experience.

Patient survival from our hemodialysis (HD) center over the past 11 years was analyzed. Four hundred four patients, 212 female and 192 male, were treated by chronic intermittent HD. Patients were offered standard acetate-cellulosic membranes of 1.0-1.3 m2. During this period 181 patients died. One hundred three patients were transferred to other HD centers, and some were transplanted. One hundred twenty patients are still on HD treatment. The 5 year survival rate of patients treated in our center was 58%. Women lived longer than men, and age correlated significantly with survival rate. Patients with chronic glomerulonephritis and adult polycystic kidney disease had the best survival rates while diabetic patients and those with post hypertensive nephropathy had the poorest survival rates. Forty-four percent of patients had a cardiac related cause of death, cerebrovascular accident was the cause in 15%, and 11% died due to septic condition (infection) while 8% died due to liver disease.