Nephrotic Syndrome

Nephrotic syndrome is a collection of symptoms caused by kidney damage: heavy protein loss in the urine, low blood albumin, high blood lipids, and significant swelling (edema). It results from a number of underlying kidney diseases, including focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, membranous nephropathy and minimal change disease, or occurs as a complication of diabetes, lupus or amyloidosis. English physician Richard Bright first characterized the constellation of dropsy, proteinuria and kidney changes now recognized as nephrotic syndrome in his 1827 Reports of Medical Cases, describing twenty five cases of dropsy he attributed to kidney disease; his colleague John Bostock documented the accompanying proteinuria and low blood albumin. Diagnosis begins with a urinalysis for protein, with a kidney biopsy used for a more specific and invasive assessment; treatment addresses both the symptoms and, where identifiable, the underlying cause.