Morphometric studies on glomeruli in the congenital nephrotic syndrome.

Morphometric studies were performed on glomeruli in two kidneys of a 13-month-old patient with congenital nephrotic syndrome of the Finnish type (CNF) and two control kidneys from an 11-month-old child. The mean diameter of the glomeruli in the diseased kidneys was abnormally large for the patient's age and the mean glomerular volume about twice the normal. The number of glomeruli, counted using a statistico-geometrical method, was 74% higher than in the control kidneys, a finding which is in accordance with a previous result obtained using a different counting method. The total glomerular volume per kidney in the CNF patient was about 3 times the normal for that age, almost equalling that in a 7-year-old individual.