Focal glomerulosclerosis in children: an Argentinian experience.

Twenty-six children presenting with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome and a histological diagnosis of focal glomerulosclerosis were studied retrospectively to evaluate their response to treatment, outcome and clinicopathological correlations. Twenty-two patients (84.6%) were steroid resistant; of these, 8 of the 19 with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis and 2 of the 3 with focal global glomerulosclerosis responded to cyclophosphamide (CY) within 16 weeks of starting therapy. Seven patients relapsed after a CY-induced remission, but 5 of them became steroid responsive. After an average follow-up of 83 months, 17 patients are in remission with normal renal function, 3 patients have persistent nephrotic range proteinuria and 6 patients are in chronic renal failure. Persistence of proteinuria, a high percentage of segmentally sclerotic glomeruli and diffuse mesangial proliferation were indicators of poor prognosis. We believe longer courses of CY therapy than those traditionally utilized are responsible for the relatively good results in our patients.