Type 3 membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis: clinicopathologic correlations and long-term follow-up in nine patients.

We studied the renal pathologic findings and results of long-term follow-up (four to 15 years; mean 7.8 years) in nine patients with type 3 membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN). We selected these patients because biopsy specimens displayed extensive glomerular, subepithelial, electron-dense deposits, besides other changes characteristic of MPGN. We compared these patients with 14 others with type 1 MPGN similarly followed up for a period of 7.4 years. Patients with type 3 MPGN were older, had hypocomplementemia less often, and enjoyed a slightly better outcome. Although six patients with type 3 MPGN had the nephrotic syndrome, end-stage renal failure developed only in two, whereas it developed in five of the 14 patients with type 1 MPGN.