[Nephrotic syndrome in children. Retrospective study at a concentration hospital]

In order to evaluate the usefulness of certain clinical and paraclinical characteristics to be able to discriminate the minimal change disease (MCD) from other histopathological lesions associated with the nephrotic syndrome (NS), the clinical charts of 31 patients were reviewed and relevant data were analyzed. Those patients with no history of biopsy and those with documented MCD through biopsy, were placed in one group (MCD = 25) and the rest as others (others = 6). None of the clinical or paraclinical indicators analyzed showed significant differences between either group. In the MCD group, 76% of the patients entered remission after receiving steroid treatment, while none of the others entered remission. The magnitude of the proteinuria, hypoalbuminemia, hypercholesterolemia, and the presence of hematuria, hypertension or hyperazoemia, were not useful to discriminate those with MCD from other lesions. The response to treatment with prednisone was the most useful data to differentiate the groups.