[Three elderly cases of endocapillary glomerulonephritis and nephrotic syndrome]

Three patients aged over 60 with endocapillary proliferative glomerulonephritis and nephrotic syndrome were reported. Immunofluorescence and electron microscopical findings were similar in all of them: granular deposits of IgG and C 3 along the capillary loops, electron dense deposits in the subendothelial area, and partial mesangial interposition. The levels of CH 50 were slightly suppressed in two of them, but neither preceding infection nor elevation in ASLO were noticed. None of then responded to steroid therapy. One patient fell in renal failure in spite of intensive steroid therapy, and died of bronchopneumonia. In another patient, proteinuria was remitted with systemic treatment against high blood pressure. The remaining patient took a favorable course during the admission without any special treatment, but proteinuria recurred after the discharge. These clinical manifestations and clinical courses were not compatible with the diagnoses of acute glomerulonephritis, mesangiocapillary glomerulonephritis, or vasculitis. We concluded that the endocapillary proliferative glomerulonephritis in adults over 60 years might be different form of glomerulonephritis from that of AGM, MPGN, and vasculitis, in which diffuse endocapillary proliferative changes in the glomeruli are seen in younger people.