Focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis in nephrotic syndrome: a new profile of adult nephrotic syndrome in Zaire.

In order to assess renal pathology, 92 clinically well-documented cases of nephrotic syndrome (NS) in adults (median age: 29) were systematically biopsied upon admission to the University Hospital of Kinshasa, between 1986 and 1989. All biopsies were paraffin embedded and histologically assessed by the routine methods of light microscopic examination. Histologic lesions were classified according to standard criteria. Focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSG) was found in 41% of patients. The remaining 59% included minimal epithelial disease or minimal change nephropathy (MCN) responsive to corticosteroid therapy (14%), proliferative glomerulonephritis (PGN) (11%), membranous glomerulopathy (MGP) (10%), amyloidosis (10%), membrano-proliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) (8%), and "end stage kidney" (ESK) (7%). These results strikingly indicate the high prevalence of FSG. In comparison with previous findings from the same milieu, there is a seven-fold increase of this entity (41% versus 6%). The findings herein reported define a new histologic profile of NS in Zaire, characterized by the predominance of FSG. While in the past the vast majority of NS (52%) were putatively related to the intercurrent parasitic diseases, among which malaria was the chief etiology, similar associations were less important. Instead, no definite causative agent emerged for this apparently idiopathic condition. Further epidemiological and morphological intercorrelation studies, as well as the studies aimed at the relationships with AIDS, are in progress, with the purpose of identifying putative etiologies and risk factors responsible for the increase of FSG in Zaire.