Idiopathic membranous glomerulonephritis: aspects of geographical differences

Clinicopathological studies of 89 cases of idiopathic membranous glomerulonephritis was carried out to investigate the clinical and histopathological characteristics of the disease. The results were compared with those of previous published reports to observe whether any difference between Japanese and caucasian patients exists. There were no obvious differences as to main clinical features, although an apparently better prognosis in our data was observed during long term follow up. In renal biopsy findings, especially glomerular capillary wall injuries, the prevalence of advanced electron microscopic stages (stages III and IV) was higher in the Japanese cases. A higher rate of clinical remission was observed in the treated group. It was concluded that Japanese cases had an obviously better prognosis despite having more advanced histological findings than the caucasian patients.