[Clinical observations and studies of BCG in the treatment of primary glomerulonephritis]

Sixty cases of nephrotic type of primary glomerulonephritis (PGN), who were mostly insensitive to the corticosteroids, received killed BCG inoculation as a main measure of combined therapy. After this treatment the complete and approximate remissions accounted for 80% in all. The urinary protein, serum albumin, BUN and SCr all had very significant improvement. As to those with similar pathologic and clinical findings, the therapeutic effects were much better in the BCG group than in the control. 13/15 cases followed up over 1-2 years had complete remission at the latest follow up and 5/6 followed below 1 year did so. The longer the courses of BCG, the lower the recurrence rates. The therapeutic effects of retreatment to those recurrent cases were much more rapid than those of initial treatment. The phagocytic function of the monocyte in another 24 PGN cases was studied. This function was found to be significantly depressed and could be normalized through BCG inoculation.