The Nephrotic Syndrome

Abstract

The nephrotic syndrome is defined by a urinary protein level exceeding 3.5 g per 1.73 m2 of body-surface area per day. At the turn of the century, clinicians distinguished a nephritic syndrome of inflammatory origin and a nephrotic syndrome of presumed degenerative origin. Today these concepts are outmoded, but the term “nephrotic syndrome” is clinically useful and has persisted, because heavy proteinuria, irrespective of its origin, is associated with a spectrum of clinically important sequelae, particularly sodium retention, hyperlipoproteinemia, and thromboembolic and infectious complications. The definition given above is arbitrary, however, and special significance should not be given to the . . .