[Clinical course and recurrences of the nephrotic syndrome due to minimal histologic lesions. Review of 73 cases (author's transl)].

The clinical course of 73 patients with nephrotic syndrome due to minimal histologic lesions was studied. A renal biopsy was performed in all of the cases; 23 biopsies were studied by immunofluorescence and two renal biopsies were carried out in eight cases. The follow-up period varied from 6 months to 10 years. The following treatment were used: 23 patients received prednisone alone, 48 were given prednisone plus chlorambucil, and 2 were treated only with chlorambucil. Sixty-five patients achieved a complete remission; a total of 39 recurrences occurred in 23 of them. The relapses took place 16 months on the average following complete remission. Twenty-three patients (32.4 percent) cured with only prednisone. Forty-eight required the association with chlorambucil, 8 percent of whom experienced recurrences before being completed cured. Two individuals were treated with chlorambucil alone and ach;eved a complete and stable remission. Eight patients (10.95 percent) could not be cured. Five of them showed a glomerular focal hyalinosis in the second renal biopsy. Six patients had hematuria at the onset: two of them achieved complete remission with recurrences; four did not. Three of the latter had glomerular focal hyalinosis. There were small foci of immunoglobulin deposits in 13 cases; 11 of them obtained complete remission with relapses and 2 achieved partial remission.