Necropsy study on glomerulonephritis in the elderly.

The necropsy reports and clinical observations of 44 cases of glomerulonephritis occurring in patients over 55 years old were reviewed. Two-thirds of the patients died from a rapidly progressive renal disease with focal necrotizing and fibrosing glomerular lesions; half of these exhibited a granulomatous splenic trabeculitis; an associated vasculitis was found in only a minority of these cases. Another important group consisted of cases of acute diffuse glomerulonephritis which, as a rule, occurred in association with a major infection. There were only four cases of chronic sclerosing glomerulonephritis.