[Lupus nephritis: clinicomorphological manifestations (author's transl)]

Forty patients with systemic lupus erythematosus have been evaluated for clinicopathological evidence of renal involvement. Average age at the onset of the disease was 23 years; 90 percent of the patients were women. Indications for renal biopsy included clinical symptoms of nephropathy (34 patients) and signs of immunological activity (6 patients(. All biopsied specimens were examined under light microscope; 28 of them under immunofluorescence, and 18 under electron microscope. Histological classification was as follows: I) Normal kidney (2 patients); II) mesangial glomerulonephritis (6 patients); III) focal glomerulonephritis (10 patients); IV) diffuse proliferative glomerulonephritis (19 patients), and V) membranous glomerulonephritis (3 patients). Six patients had no clinical nephritis, two of them had normal kidneys and four had a mesangial glomerulonephritis. Patients in groups III, IV, and V showed clinical and biological evidence of renal involvement. Highest incidence of renal failure, nephrotic syndrome or high blood pressure was found among cases in group IV. Group IV accounted also for the highest mortality rate. Clinical course of 25 cases (1 of type II, 8 or type III, and 16 of type IV) on corticosteroid therapy for an average follow-up of 22.8 months has showed greater clinical improvement (proteinuria and renal function) of nephropathy type III than nephropathy type IV. Renal biopsy is a useful diagnostic and prognostic method in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, even in those cases without clinical evidence of renal disease.