The transient nephrotic syndrome of pregnancy

The transient nephrotic syndrome was observed in 24 pregnancies in 23 patients, over a five-year period, in a base hospital obstetric unit. The clinical and biochemical features of this syndrome were similar to the nephrotic syndrome observed in non-pregnant patients. In only half the episodes was the patient a primigravida. In three multigravida patients, previous pregnancies were normal. In 10 of the 24 pregnancies, a perinatal death occurred. A bad fetal prognosis was associated with an early onset of the nephrotic syndrome. Of 11 pregnancies in nine patients occurring after the pregnancy complicated by the transient nephrotic syndrome, seven were normal. One pregnancy was complicated by heavy proteinuria, one by hypertension and intra-uterine death, one by an hydatidiform mole, and one was terminated.