Causes of Glomerulosclerosis

Kidney disease

Damaged glomeruli can't perform their job adequately. As a result, large amounts of protein from the blood leak into the urine rather than remaining in the bloodstream. This leads to a condition called proteinuria.

Causes of Glomerulosclerosis
Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) is a kidney disease that can lead to glomerulosclerosis. In FSGS, the scarring occurs only in some of the glomeruli. And only part of the individual glomeruli is damaged.

Untreated, it can lead to kidney failure. In some cases, kidney failure can occur despite treatment.

FSGS most frequently occurs without a cause. In such cases it is called idiopathic or primary FSGS. Sometimes, though, FSGS does have a known cause, and these can include:

HIV infection
Obesity
Sickle cell disease
Birth defects of the kidneys
Heroin or other drug use
Genetic causes (in rare cases)
Besides FSGS, glomerulosclerosis can be caused by these diseases:

Diabetes
Lupus
HIV infection
Sickle cell disease
Conditions that damage the kidneys can also lead to glomerulosclerosis. These include:

Glomerulonephritis, which causes the glomeruli to become inflamed.
Reflux nephropathy, in which urine flows back into the kidney.
Chemicals and medicines that harm the kidneys can also cause glomerulosclerosis.

Symptoms of Glomerulosclerosis
At first, there are no obvious signs of glomerulosclerosis. Over time, symptoms can develop. These include:

Swelling. Because of fluid retention, you may have swelling in various parts of the body, including:

Hands
Feet
Legs
Abdomen
Around the eyes
The swelling may be painful. It may also cause rapid weight gain.

Changes in urine. You may have foamy or bubbly urine, caused by proteinuria.

Often, glomerulosclerosis is discovered during a routine checkup. Tests during a checkup can reveal an abnormally high protein content in the urine (proteinuria). Or they may show a low level of protein in the blood (hypoproteinemia).

Symptoms that often accompany glomerulosclerosis include:

High blood pressure
High cholesterol
In glomerulosclerosis patients, high blood pressure can be difficult to control.

Diagnosis of Glomerulosclerosis
The only way you can be certain of an accurate diagnosis of glomerulosclerosis is to get a kidney biopsy. That's because the symptoms of glomerulosclerosis can also occur in many other conditions.

In a kidney biopsy, your doctor removes a very small amount of kidney tissue. The tissue is examined for signs of scarring.

Diagnosing glomerulosclerosis may require multiple biopsies. That's because the scarring does not occur throughout the kidney. So your doctor may have to look at samples from several different parts of the kidney until an affected area is found.

And we also have many other unique therapies. We will adopt the best systemic therapy which is most suitable to the patient's kidney condition. If you need any help in curing your disease, you can leave messages or email to us. Our email: sjzkidneyhospital@hotmail.com

Treatment of lupus nephritis

lupus nephritis

Severe lupus nephritis is an aggressive disease that requires an aggressive approach to treatment. Recent randomized clinical trials showed that mycophenolate mofetil compared favorably with cyclophosphamide (traditional approach) for remission 

Exposure to the ultraviolet rays in sunlight can trigger lupus or, in a person who already has the disease, cause it to flare up. Worsening flare-ups of the disease can be life threatening because they can include inflammation and failure of the kidneys. Also, declining memory and mental sharpness with long-term lupus is common.

Diagnosis

Lupus is notoriously difficult to diagnose. Many cases are not diagnosed until the patient has suffered irreversible kidney damage; for patients who do not have organ-threatening disease, diagnosis takes an average of two years of searching among physicians and conditions. The telltale erythematous skin lumps or rashes that give lupus erythematosus the latter half of its name eventually appear in 90% of systemic lupus patients and all discoid lupus patients, but may not appear early enough in the course of the disease to guarantee timely diagnosis. Additionally, no single lab test can confirm lupus, although certain antibody tests can help to distinguish lupus from other diseases.

Diagnosis of systemic lupus is based on a list of 11 criteria listed by the American College of Rheumatology. If four or more of the 11 criteria are met, a patient is deemed to have systemic lupus. The criteria include discoid or macular rash (often in a classic facial butterfly pattern across the nose and cheeks), photosensitivity, ulcers in the mouth, kidney dysfunction, and the presence of various blood factors such as anti-DNA antibody or anti-nuclear antibody (antibody that targets cell nuclei).

Approximately 15% of diagnoses of lupus may be misdiagnoses of other disorders, including fibromyalgia, seronegative spondyloarthropathies such as ankylosing spondylitis or Reiter's syndrome, autoimmune thyroiditis, and multiple sclerosis .

Although diagnosis of lupus cerebritis is particularly difficult, even if a patient has lupus, this does not necessarily mean that the neurological symptoms are due to lupus. Imaging studies cannot necessarily distinguish lupus cerebritis, although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies are considered helpful. Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging has a high sensitivity to changes in the brain resulting from lupus cerebritis.

Treatment team

As with other neurological diseases in which the spectrum of symptoms varies widely, the treatment team must be designed for each individual case of lupus. A dermatologist will be involved if skin lesions are present; a neurologist , if cognitive loss is a possibility; a nephrologist will monitor kidney function; and a rheumatologist is often involved because of the frequency of joint pain. Other specialists will be needed depending on what organ systems are affected.

Treatment

There is no known cure for lupus. However, there are numerous interventions designed to lessen the severity of the disease. These interventions can be classed as pharmacologic (drug-based) or nonpharmacologic.

Pharmacologic interventions (drug therapies)

Five categories of medication are used to treat systemic lupus patients: sunscreens and steroid lotions, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs, e.g., acetaminophen or ibuprofen), corticosteroids (e.g., prednisone to suppress the autoimmune response and control inflammation), anti-malarial drugs, and cytotoxic agents (i.e., chemotherapy drugs that are used for cancer, such as methotrexate, azathioprine, and cyclophosphamide).

Cytotoxic agents are used in order to decrease steroid dosage. Anticoagulants (blood thinners) may also be prescribed. For patients with non-organ-threatening disease, the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine is often prescribed; prednisone is often prescribed in cases of organ-threatening disease. New lupus drugs are under investigation; with recent increases in knowledge about the genetic and molecular basis of autoimmune disorders, including lupus, pharmacological treatment breakthroughs are possible at any time.

Nonpharmacologic (non-drug) interventions

All persons with lupus should guard against exposure to the sun and use protective clothing, sunscreen, and common sense when going outdoors. Adequate exercise can protect against fatigue, obesity, osteoporosis (weakening of the bones), and hyperlipidemia (excessive fats in the blood plasma). In some cases, dietary restrictions may be helpful, including especially the avoidance of food allergens and foods that may trigger lupus symptoms (such as alfalfa seeds). Vitamins, minerals, and dietary fatty acids have been shown to moderate lupus symptoms in some cases. On the other hand, some dietary supplements such as melatonin and Echinacea can worsen symptoms of some autoimmune diseases.

For lupus cerebritis, therapy choices include all the above options for alleviating the disorder throughout the rest of the body. Drug therapy can also include psychotropic medications such as antipsychotics, antidepressants, and benzodiazepines to stabilize mood, if this is affected. Unfortunately, long-term use of corticosteroids, one of the mainstays of pharmacological lupus treatment, may itself cause psychiatric symptoms. 

Leave message on below or Email to sjzkidneyhospital@hotmail.com with your detailed disease condition,we are glad to offer you more professional guidance as soon as possible for free.