Reversal of Bartter's syndrome by renal transplantation in a child with focal, segmental glomerular sclerosis.

A four-year-old girl with growth failure and clinical and laboratory evidence of Bartter's syndrome responded to indomethacin treatment with decreased urinary prostaglandin excretion, symptomatic and chemical improvement, and accelerated growth. Large doses of aspirin produced a comparable decrease in prostaglandin excretion but no improvement in any other metabolic abnormality thus suggesting that abnormalities in prostaglandins were the result rather than the cause of the electrolyte abnormalities. Progressive renal insufficiency while on indomethacin prompted a renal biopsy, which revealed morphological changes of focal, segmental glomerular sclerosis. Subsequently, the child underwent renal transplantation with complete resolution of symptoms and abnormal metabolic findings. This observation suggests that extrarenal factors were not responsible for the development of Bartter's syndrome in this child.