Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 21, 2026
Using a Chemical Biopsy for Graft Quality Assessment
Published on: June 17, 2020
An overview on frequency of renal biopsy diagnosis in Brazil: clinical and pathological patterns based on 9,617
Maria Goretti Polito1, Luiz Antonio Ribeiro de Moura, Gianna Mastroianni Kirsztajn
1Glomerulopathy Section (Nephrology Division, Department of Medicine), Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Background:
Studies about the prevalence of renal and particularly glomerular diseases in Brazil are still scarce.
Methods:
We evaluated retrospectively the reports of 9,617 renal biopsies, analyzed by the same pathologist, from January 1993 to December 2007.
Results:
The 9,617 renal biopsies performed in subjects of all ages in native kidneys. 4,619 were primary glomerulopathies (GN), the most frequent was focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS, 24.6%), followed by membranous nephropathy (MN, 20.7%), IgA nephropathy (IgAN, 20.1%), minimal change disease (MCD, 15.5%), mesangioproliferative non IgAN (nonIgAN, 5.2%), diffuse proliferative GN (DPGN, 4.7%) and membranoproliferative GN (MPGN, 4.2%). Lupus nephritis was responsible for most cases which etiology was determined, i.e., 950 out of 2,046 cases (45.5%), followed by post infectious GN (18.9%), diabetic nephropathy (8.5%), benign and malignant nephroangiosclerosis (7.3%), haemolytic-uraemic syndrome and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (HUS/TTP), amyloidosis (4.8%) and vasculitis (4.7%). There was a predominance of secondary GN in the North, mostly due to lupus nephritis (LN); FSGS was very common in Northeast (27.7%), Central (26.9%) and Southeast regions (24.1%); IgAN was most frequent in South (22.8%) and MN in North (29.6%); the total prevalence of MPGN was low, and its regional distribution has not changed along the years.
Conclusion:
FSGS was the most frequent primary glomerular disease, followed closely by MN and IgAN. The predominance of FSGS is in accordance with recent studies all over the world that revealed its frequency is increasing. Lupus nephritis predominated among secondary GN in most regions, a finding observed in other studies.
Related Concept Videos
01:28Imaging Studies I: Kidney, Ureter, and Bladder Studies
01:06Renal Drug Clearance: Overview
Renal clearance can be calculated using different methods. One approach is to divide the urinary drug excretion rate by the plasma drug concentration. This method directly measures renal clearance, indicating the kidneys' efficiency in...
01:15Renal Drug Excretion: Overview
A nephron consists of two primary structures: the renal corpuscle and the renal tubule. The renal corpuscle contains the glomerulus, a network of capillaries where the first step of renal excretion, glomerular filtration, occurs. Blood pressure forces water, ions, and small molecules out...
01:08Renal Drug Clearance: Comparison Between Renal Excretion Methods
Renal clearance is often associated with the renal glomerular filtration rate (GFR), which represents the rate at which plasma is filtered through the glomeruli in the kidney. When drug reabsorption is minimal and there is no active secretion, renal clearance is closely related to the...
01:30Acute Kidney Injury IV: Diagnostic Studies and Prevention
01:02Renal Drug Excretion: Glomerular Filtration
Drugs gain access to the kidney via the renal artery, which progressively branches off into afferent arterioles.