Membranous nephropathy - still a treatment dilemma
Article Abstract:
Treating adults with membranous nephropathy with immunosuppressive drugs will lead to remission in patients who would have developed renal failure and cause remission earlier in those patients who might have had spontaneous remission. Giving both methylprednisolone and chlorambucil rather than methylprednisolone alone may improve the patient's condition for up to three years but benefits after three years remain uncertain. This disorder occurs most frequently in middle-aged people in association with protein in the urine. It is a slow moving disease with kidney failure occurring in about one half the patients and other other, into remission. The condition may have several causes which vary in different parts of the world. Older males with high blood pressure, reduced kidney function and damage to the kidney have the poorest prognosis. The best guide to the outcome is the level of protein excreted in the urine.
Publication Name: The New England Journal of Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0028-4793
Year: 1992
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Idiopathic membranous nephropathy - to treat or not to treat?
Article Abstract:
Doctors should consider limiting potentially toxic treatments for idiopathic membranous nephropathy to patients who are at high risk for developing kidney failure. Membranous nephropathy refers to an inflammation of the kidney of unknown cause. As information accrues about the course of the disease, it may eventually help physicians decide which patients are at highest risk for kidney failure and will most likely benefit from treatment. Recent studies have found that 20% to 40% of patients have complete or partial remissions from the disease without treatment. Mathematical models developed by the Toronto Glomerulonephritis Registry predict that patients who excrete more than eight grams of protein in their urine each day have a 66% chance of developing chronic renal insufficiency.
Publication Name: The New England Journal of Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0028-4793
Year: 1993
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