FOLLOW-UP OF TREATED PATIENTS WITH PRIMITIVE MEMBRANOUS NEPHRITIS

Idiopathic membranous glomerulonephritis (MGN) is a disease where immune suppressive (I.S.) treatment has given and still produces conflicting results. Treatment schedules were quite different in various reports: some used low dose prednisone or short treatment periods, others larger doses and prolonged treatments, while others only cytotoxic agents (1,2). A few studies combined prednisone (PDN) and alkylating agents (3,4). The efficacy of therapy in patients with MGM is still debated and difficult to evaluate because of spontaneous remissions and a variable course towards chronic renal failure (CFR) (5). In order to define the achievement of a stable remission, we treated our patients with PDN plus Cyclophosphamide (CPM), and studied them for an average period of 98 months.