Treatment of membranous nephropathy in children.

Membranous nephropathy (MN) is not a common pediatric glomerular disease and not a common cause of idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (NS) in children. Because of the rarity of the disease, there is only a limited amount of uncontrolled data and no controlled data available in children regarding the treatment of MN. Older uncontrolled data indicate that nearly a quarter of children with NS, whether untreated or treated with various immunosuppressive agents, develop chronic renal failure. Current recommendations for treatment both for children presenting with or without NS therefore are based on controlled data obtained in adults with MN. All children should receive angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs). Children with NS may be treated initially with corticosteroids. If a satisfactory response is not obtained with corticosteroids, then treatment with cyclosporine or chlorambucil can be tried. The protocols of treatment with these drugs are described in this article.