[Diagnosis of oligosymptomatic forms of chronic glomerulonephritis]

An investigation is carried out, by punch biopsy, on 54 patients with chronic glomerulonephritis, its course being evaluated as oligosymtomatic. From the patients followed up 35 were with morphologic changes corresponding to endoproliferative type, 13--to membranaceous type and 6--to membranaceous-proliferative type. The patients' complex investigation (incld. the investigation of biopsy renal material) was established to allow the disease diagnosis in its initial stage, irrespectively of the lack of manifested clinical and laboratory symptoms. Some typical peculiarities in the clinical course and the differences of the followed up laboratory indices, for separate morphologic types, were established and thus the diagnostic opportunities were increased. The duration of the oligosymptomatic course is also different, the highest being in the endoproliferative type--an aveagre of 10 years and the shortest--in the membranaceous-proliferative type--an average of 3 and 4 months. In the patients studied, in spite of the lack of manifested clinical and laboratory activity, a definite tendency is found towards gradual disease course with restricted renal functional potentialities. Besides on glomerulonephritis morphological type, this tendency depends on some additional factors as intercurrent diseases, keeping of no optimal regimen of life and labour, pragnancy etc. The authors are provided grounds to admit that early complex diagnosis specifying is a necessity in carrying out systematic prophylactic and therapeutic measures, thus improving the disease prognosis.