During a period of three years (February 1995 --January 1998), 30 biopsies were performed for patients within the paediatric age group in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM). The majority of these patients (19 cases) had steroid-resistant Nephrotic Syndrome. Other indications were lupus erythematosus (5 cases), acute or chronic glomerulonephritis (5 cases) and infantile nephrotic syndrome (1 case). The biopsy of the 19 cases of steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome gave the following findings: 10 showed minimal- change nephrotic syndrome, 4 focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, 3 mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis and one diffuse sclerosing glomerulonephritis while there was insufficient glomeruli for a conclusive diagnosis in one case. The 5 patients with acute/chronic glomerulonephritis showed diffused sclerosing glomerulonephritis. The other 5 patients with lupus nephritis showed mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis (2) and severe proliferative glomerulonephritis (3). The 5-month-old child with infantile nephrotic syndrome showed mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis. There were no severe complications noted during or immediately after the procedure. There were 3 cases of gross haematuria, one lasting less than 24 hours and the other two less than
Renal biopsy is essential in the management of renal parenchymal diseases. Thus far there is no publish report on the pattern of glomerulonephritis in Kelantan. We decided to establish the pattern of glomerulonephritis in Kelantan and use this information as our reference in future studies. Records of patients who had proven glomerulonephritis histologically were analysed. Their biological data, clinical presentation, etiology and clinicopathological pattern were studied. Where appropriate mean and standard deviation were calculated. A total of 74 biopsies were performed during the study period (between January 1991 and December 1993), out of which 72 biopsies (97.3%) were considered suitable for analysis. The male to female ratio was 1:1.1. Mean age at presentation was 27.6 +/- 12.2 years. Nephrotic syndrome was the commonest clinical presentation (65.3%). The main underlying cause was systemic lupus erythematosus (50%) followed by primary glomerulonephritis. Histologically, IgA nephropathy and minimal change disease were the main patterns among patients with primary glomerulonephritis while diffuse proliferative glomerulonephritis was the commonest pattern among patients with lupus nephritis. Hence the pattern of glomerulonephritis is similar to other reported series. The procedure is considered safe and has a high success rate.
We report a 14 year old Indian-Muslim girl who developed a fulminant, disseminated and fatal varicella infection while receiving steroids for nephrotic syndrome. The terminal phase of her illness was complicated by a bleeding dyscrasia and circulatory collapse. Varicella infection in healthy children is a benign disease. However in neonates and immunosuppressed patients it may be severe and often fatal. There are many reports of fatalities occurring in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, patients on immunosuppressives for asthma, haemolytic anaemia, rheumatic fever, and renal and bone marrow transplantation. Patients with nephrotic syndrome receiving cyclophosphamide treatment are at particular risk of developing severe chickenpox infection. To our knowledge, there has been only one report of fatal chickenpox infection in a child who received steroids for nephrotic syndrome. We report here a case of fatal haemorrhagic chickenpox complicating nephrotic syndrome.
Between 1980-1986, 219 renal biopsies were performed on patients with lupus nephritis (LN) presenting at the General Hospital, Kuala Lumpur. There were 172 (78.5%) females and 47 (21.5%) males. The ethnic distribution of 48.4% Malays, 46.1% Chinese and 5.5% Indians reflected their proportional composition in the general population. Peak incidence (40.6%) of cases occurred in the third decade of life (20-29 group) followed by 26.5% and 20.1% in the second and fourth decades respectively. The median age was 24 for females and 27 for males. In both sexes, nephrotic syndrome was the commonest mode of presentation (62.2%) followed by proteinuria (20.5%). Acute oliguric renal failure occurred in 11 patients (5%) and 8 of these showed crescentic glomerulonephritis with more than 50% crescents. The commonest histological picture was diffuse proliferative LN (WHO Stage IV-44.7%) which included 70% (19/27) of those with crescentic disease. This was followed by membranous LN (28.8%) of which 6 (all males) had crescentic disease. 7 (12.3%) of our patients had crescentic nephritis with a female to male distribution of 14: 13, suggesting either more aggressive disease or delayed diagnosis in males.
Key words - Renal biopsies, lupus nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, proteinuria.
Nephrotic syndrome is often associated with a hypercoagulable state and thrombotic complications. Thrombosis may be due to a number of abnormalities in blood, including AT III deficiency, increased concentrations of fibrinogen, factors V and VIII, and platelet hyperaggregability. The therapeutic approach to thrombosis in nephrotic syndrome is the use of anticoagulants as a preventive measure or an attempt at thrombolysis with streptokinase, urokinase, or stanozolol.
A 31 year old Chinese man developed the nephrotic syndrome, and wasfound to have some of the clinical features of renal vein thrombosis such as a rapid deterioration in renal function and great variability in proteinuria. Radiological studies confirmed the diagnosis of bilateral renal vein thrombosis. The clinical features and pathogenesis of renal vein thrombosis are discussed.
Adequately biopsied renal tissue received in the Department of Pathology, University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur from 1,000 consecutive Malaysian patients during an eleven year period between 1970 and 1981 was reviewed. The youngest patient was 6 days old and the oldest 80 years. Both sexes were equally represented. The majority of the patients were Chinese (71%) with Malays and Indians comprising most of the remainder. Over half the patients (50.4%) presented with the nephrotic syndrome. Other modes of presentation included systemic lupus erythematosus, proteinuria and haematuria separately or in combination and hypertension. Minimal change (25.7%) and proliferative glomerulonephritis (24.8%) were present in about equal numbers and together accounted for over half of the cases (50.5%). Lupus nephritis was the third most common diagnosis (18.4%). In addition, there were patients with focal glomerulonephritis (5.4%), membranous glomerulonephritis (5.5%), Berger's disease (5.8%), amyloidosis (0.6%) and end stage renal disease (4.0%).
The first living patient with a Schistosoma japonicum-type infection who presented with the nephrotic syndrome is reported in detail. It is not clear whether the nephrotic syndrome was due to the schistosome infection or to the deposition of hepatitis B antigen and antibody complexes. This is the tenth case of schistosomiasis reported from aborigines in Malaysia and a sylvatic source of infection is suggested.