Histological patterns of renal diseases in children: A 12-year experience from a single Tertiary Care Center in North-East India.

This study was conducted to retrospectively investigate the indications for renal biopsy in the native kidneys of children and to analyze the pathological findings in a single tertiary care hospital in North-East India for the past 12 years. All children (≤18 years) who underwent renal biopsy at our hospital from March 2007 to April 2018 were included. Renal tissue specimens were studied under light and immunofluorescence microscopy. The study group included 254 patients (female 57%). The median age was 15 years (range 6-18 years). The most frequent indications for renal biopsy were nephrotic syndrome (NS) (53.9%), urinary abnormality in systemic disease (22.1%), nephritic syndrome (15.4%), asymptomatic hematuria (4.7%), significant proteinuria (3.1%), and unexplained renal failure (0.8%). On histopathological examination, primary glomerular diseases were the most frequent (68.9%) followed by secondary glomerular diseases (30.3%) and tubulointerstitial diseases (0.8%). The most common primary glomerular diseases were minimal change disease (26.8%), focal segmental glomerular sclerosis (12.2%), diffuse proliferative glomerulonephritis (9.1%), membranous nephropathy (8.7%), IgA nephropathy (8.3%), membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (2%), and mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis (2%). Lupus nephritis (LN) (29.5%) was the most common secondary glomerular disease. NS was the most common indication of renal biopsy, and LN was the most common histopathological diagnosis in children ≤18 years.