What Is Nephrotic Syndrome And Its Harm

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What is Nephrotic syndrome

Nephrotic syndrome is a general term for severe proteinuria and its corresponding clinical manifestations caused by a variety of renal pathological damages. The definition of nephrotic syndrome must meet: ① massive proteinuria (≥ 3.5 gd); ② hypoalbuminemia (≤ 30 gL); ③ hyperlipidemia (serum cholesterol> 6.5 mmol/L); ④ edema, water, sodium retention. Among them, massive proteinuria and the resulting hypoalbuminemia are necessary conditions for the diagnosis of nephrotic syndrome, and other manifestations occur on the basis of persistent massive proteinuria. Because a nephrotic syndrome is a group of syndromes caused by various etiologies, pathological and clinical diseases, and its manifestations, mechanisms, prevention, and treatment have their own characteristics, nephrotic syndrome is not used as the final diagnosis of the disease. Clinical classification of nephrotic syndrome is often divided into two major categories: primary and secondary according to the cause. Nephrotic syndrome can occur in any type of glomerular disease; the latter has many causes, the most common being diabetic nephropathy, renal amyloidosis, systemic lupus erythematosus nephritis, and nephrotic syndrome caused by drugs and infections.

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In terms of clinical manifestations, a series of clinical manifestations of nephrotic syndrome mainly originate from massive proteinuria, and a large amount of protein in plasma is lost from urine, leading to hypoproteinemia, which in turn causes edema and hyperlipidemia. The main complications of nephrotic syndrome are secondary infection, thrombosis, malnutrition, renal function damage, and so on. There is no definite causal relationship between the clinical manifestations and pathological types of nephrotic syndrome, and the two cannot replace each other. The diagnosis of nephrotic syndrome first needs to distinguish between primary and secondary, in order to cure the causative disease. At the same time, the clinical manifestations and pathological morphology of nephrotic syndrome are often quite different, so a correct judgment should be made on the clinical type and pathological morphology of each nephrotic syndrome patient. Renal biopsy can provide a histomorphological diagnosis for the observation of pathology and ultrastructure in patients with nephrotic syndrome, which is of great significance for formulating treatment plans and estimating prognosis. Therefore, in every patient with nephrotic syndrome, a renal biopsy should be performed whenever possible to confirm the diagnosis.

The treatment of nephrotic syndrome is generally divided into symptomatic treatment and immunomodulatory treatment, the former commonly used methods such as diuresis, anticoagulation, and hypolipidemic; the latter commonly used methods such as corticosteroids, cytotoxic immunosuppressants, and immunostimulators. For some severe and refractory nephrotic syndrome, combination therapy is often used in clinical practice to improve the boiling effect. The prognosis of nephrotic syndrome is often related to its primary disease and the type of pathological damage. Some patients can achieve good curative effects with traditional Chinese medicine alone, but most of them are treated with integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine to shorten the course of the disease, improve the curative effect, and reduce the side effects of hormones and cytotoxic drugs.

Nowadays, the number of patients with nephrotic syndrome in this society is gradually increasing. If this large group is treated properly, almost all of them can be healthy; but if not treated in time, the patient's life will be in danger.

4 characteristics of nephrotic syndrome

1. Massive proteinuria

When the total amount of protein in the urine exceeds 3.5 grams in 24 hours, the patient can find a lot of foam in his urine, which persists for a long time. This is the initial manifestation of nephrotic syndrome, once found such a situation should be highly vigilant.

2. Hypoproteinemia

This is the second characteristic necessary for nephrotic syndrome. After a large amount of protein is lost from the urine, serum albumin is generally below 30 g/L.

3. Increased blood lipids

The nephrotic syndrome often causes dyslipidemia, including increases in total cholesterol and triglycerides. Patients can excrete lipuria, and birefringent fat bodies appear in the urine, like a layer of oil seeds floating on the surface of the urine.

4. Swelling

Patients often have a high degree of edema, most commonly in the lower extremities, and this edema is concave, that is, when you press with your fingers, the skin will sag and cannot bounce up quickly. After a long illness, the edema will gradually increase to the whole body, and pleural effusion, ascites, pericardial effusion, mediastinal effusion, scrotal or labia majora edema, and pulmonary edema may also occur. In severe cases, the eyes cannot be opened, the head and neck become thicker, and the skin can be waxy pale. In addition, the presence of chest and ascites can easily lead to obvious difficulty in breathing.

The harm of nephrotic syndrome to the human body

1. Renal failure, uremia

As we all know, this is the most common hazard, and severe cases require life-long dialysis.

2. Decreased resistance

The main reason is that the effect of some drugs reduces the resistance of the patient's body, which will affect the formation of the patient's autoantibodies, and is prone to infections, such as skin infections, respiratory infections, and urinary tract infections.

3. Vomiting, diarrhea

Sometimes, vomiting and diarrhea can lead to decreased glomerular filtration in patients, causing acute renal failure.

4. Causes heart disease

The survey found that patients with nephrotic syndrome have a higher incidence of heart disease than normal people, and even endanger the patient's life in severe cases.

5. Thrombosis

Patients with nephrotic syndrome, especially those with membranous nephropathy, are prone to thrombosis. The main reasons are edema, reduced patient activity, hyperlipidemia, and hemoconcentration.

Nephrotic syndrome is very harmful to the human body; the difference is that nephrotic syndrome is completely controllable, and it will not progress to renal failure for life if treated properly.