Pattern of glomerular diseases in a tertiary care center in South India: a prospective study

This prospective study was undertaken to evaluate the distribution and pattern of glomerular diseases from a clinico-pathological perspective in our hospital, which is a tertiary care center in Southern India. Seventy-five consecutive patients who underwent renal biopsy and were diagnosed to have glomerular disease over a two-year period were studied and followed-up for one year. Primary glomerular disorders were more common than secondary glomerular disorders. Minimal change disease was the most common primary glomerular disease and lupus was the most common secondary glomerular disorder. Other common primary glomerular disorders were IgA nephropathy (16%) and post-infectious glomerulonephritis (10.7%), while focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis accounted for only 5.3% of the cases. In one-third of the cases, the initial clinical diagnosis did not correlate with the final biopsy diagnosis, further emphasizing the importance of renal biopsy in glomerular disorders.