Histopathologic variability of the congenital nephrotic syndrome.

Five cases of congenital nephrotic syndrome (CNS) were studied with light microscopic (LM), transmission electron microscopic (TEM) and immunofluorescence microscopic (IFM) techniques. All patients, aged between three weeks and one year, had a nephrotic syndrome (NS) and died soon after the diagnosis. Three patients showed mesangial proliferation, thinning of glomerular basement membranes (GBM) and no deposits by IFM or TEM.