Résumé
Glomerulonephritis (GN) is a term used to refer to several kidney diseases (usually affecting both kidneys). Many of the diseases are characterised by inflammation either of the glomeruli or of the small blood vessels in the kidneys, hence the name, but not all diseases necessarily have an inflammatory component. As it is not strictly a single disease, its presentation depends on the specific disease entity: it may present with isolated hematuria and/or proteinuria (blood or protein in the urine); or as a nephrotic syndrome, a nephritic syndrome, acute kidney injury, or chronic kidney disease. They are categorized into several different pathological patterns, which are broadly grouped into non-proliferative or proliferative types. Diagnosing the pattern of GN is important because the outcome and treatment differ in different types. Primary causes are intrinsic to the kidney. Secondary causes are associated with certain infections (bacterial, viral or parasitic pathogens), drugs, systemic disorders (SLE, vasculitis), or diabetes. Glomerulonephritis refers to an inflammation of the glomerulus, which is the unit involved in filtration in the kidney. This inflammation typically results in one or both of the nephrotic or nephritic syndromes. Nephrotic syndrome The nephrotic syndrome is characterised by the finding of edema in a person with increased protein in the urine and decreased protein in the blood, with increased fat in the blood. Inflammation that affects the cells surrounding the glomerulus, podocytes, increases the permeability to proteins, resulting in an increase in excreted proteins. When the amount of proteins excreted in the urine exceeds the liver's ability to compensate, fewer proteins are detected in the blood – in particular albumin, which makes up the majority of circulating proteins. With decreased proteins in the blood, there is a decrease in the oncotic pressure of the blood. This results in edema, as the oncotic pressure in tissue remains the same. Although decreased intravascular oncotic (i.e.
À propos de ce résultat
Cette page est générée automatiquement et peut contenir des informations qui ne sont pas correctes, complètes, à jour ou pertinentes par rapport à votre recherche. Il en va de même pour toutes les autres pages de ce site. Veillez à vérifier les informations auprès des sources officielles de l'EPFL.