The role of pure diffuse mesangial hypercellularity in patients with proteinuria.

Background: Pure diffuse mesangial hypercellularity (DMH), in its primary form, is a relatively rare histological finding, and scant data exist in the literature regarding its clinical course and prognosis in nephrotic adults with this diagnosis.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical and histological data of 8 out of 41 patients with the above diagnosis in regard to response to the treatment, outcome and prognostic indicators.

Results: Six patients received oral prednisolone as initial therapy, five of whom receiving it as monotherapy at first.

Antiphospholipid syndrome nephropathy in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and antiphospholipid antibodies: prevalence, clinical associations, and long-term outcome.

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence, clinical associations, and outcome of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) nephropathy in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) and in SLE patients without aPL.

Methods: Kidney biopsy specimens obtained from 81 patients with aPL (18 of whom had APS) and 70 patients without aPL were retrospectively examined for the presence of APS nephropathy. Clinical and serologic data obtained at the time of kidney biopsy and during a mean followup of 7 years were recorded.