BACKGROUND: There is lack of consensus on the necessity of renal biopsy in children with steroid-dependent nephrotic syndrome (SDNS) prior to cytotoxic therapy. OBJECTIVES: To retrospectively evaluate: (a) the benefit of renal biopsy (RB) prior to cyclophosphamide therapy; (b) relationship between histopathologic results of RB samples and clinical course in children with SDNS. PATIENTS, MATERIALS AND METHODS: RB was performed in 18 SDNS patients (11 boys and 7 girls). The mean age of the children at the time of nephrotic syndrome (NS) diagnosis was 6.4 +/- 3.9 years and 9.7 +/- 4.3 years at the time of RB. Following the RB, all children received prednisone and cyclophosphamide treatment for 12 weeks. Duration of remission and relapse rate was recorded. RESULTS: The histologic evaluation revealed minimal change disease (MCD; n = 14) and IgM nephropathy (n = 4). These results didn't affect the ongoing therapy. MCD patients had longer remission compared to IgM nephropathy (3.2 +/- 1.5 vs 1.7 +/- 0.8 years; p = 0.05). Relapse rate did not differ significantly between MCD and IgM nephropathy (p = 0.22). The duration of remission was inversely correlated to relapse rate after the treatment (r = -0.66, p = 0.01). CONCLUSION: We suggest that RB prior to cyclophosphamide therapy is not necessary in patients with SDNS (Tab. 2, Ref. 14). Full Text (Free, PDF) www.bmj.sk.

Department of Paediatrics Charles University Prague Medical Faculty Hradec Králové Czech Republic