[Clinico-laboratory pattern and effectiveness of glucocorticoid therapy of patients with primary diffuse...

The paper is concerned with clinico-laboratory correlations and assessment of short- and long-term results of glucocorticoid therapy (GCT) in 137 patients with diffuse mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis (DMPGN). It may have different clinical variants and is characterized by a relatively favorable course in the first 10 yrs. A good clinical effect of GCT was observed only in some patients with the nephrotic variant of DMPGN in the absence or presence of insignificant fibroplastic changes, and in the absence or presence of the moderate tubulointerstitial component. In patients with a latent variant of DMPGN GCT made no considerable effect on the clinical symptoms of disease. The 15-year survival in patients on GCT was slightly higher (insignificant statistical difference) than that in patients receiving symptomatic treatment only.