Membranous nephropathy in childhood and its treatment.

Membranous nephropathy is predominantly a disease of middle-aged and elderly individuals, and is thus rather an uncommon finding in proteinuric and nephrotic children. In children, it differs in several important respects from the disease as seen in adults: an apparent associated cause is more common, macroscopic haematuria is seen quite frequently, a relapsing course is more often noted, renal venous thrombosis is not found and evolution into renal failure is the exception. Nevertheless, a proportion of children with membranous nephropathy do evolve into renal failure, and their management is discussed with particular reference to recent papers on the treatment of membranous nephropathy in adults. An aggressive search for associated disease is worthwhile in children, and one should wait to see what the evolution or proteinuria and renal function may be. If a progressive course becomes evident, then a trial of treatment with corticosteroids is worthwhile, but if this is ineffective then a more aggressive approach involving the use of alkylating agents may be justified. It remains undetermined what the best regime in children and adolescents may be.