[Syphilitic glomerulonephritis: case report and review of the literature].

The authors report the history of a patient with syphilitic glomerulonephritis, a rare complication of syphilis. The patient was admitted to the hospital with clinical symptoms of neurosyphilis. During his hospital stay urine analysis revealed an extremely high proteinuria, that had not been known before. Intravenous penicillin treatment improved the renal protein loss, but it took a total of six months until complete resolution was achieved. The serology that confirmed the syphilis, the concomitant nephrotic syndrome and the improvement after penicillin therapy met the criteria of syphilitic glomerulonephritis. This case prompted the authors to review the literature about this rare complication of syphilis that has a great clinical significance.