FSGS is short for Segmental Glomerular Sclerosis. It is the main cause of
Nephritic Syndrome, especially for children and adolescents. Without timely
effective treatments, most of the patients with FSGS will end with Renal
Failure.
The individual components of FSGS are explained in this way. Focal: it means
that only some of the glomeruli are affected; Segmental: it refers to only a
part of individual glomerulus is damaged; Glomerulosclerosis means that the
glomeruli are scarred.
The primary clinical symptom of FSGS is Nephritic Syndrome and about 2/3 of
the patients have a large amount of protein in urine between 1~30g/d. More than
half of the patients with FSGS have hematuria, mainly microscopic hematuria and
rarely gross hematuria. In adults, about 30~50% of the patients have mild
persistent high blood pressure or chronic Nephrotic Syndrome. For those
patients, their protein in urine is less than 3.5 grams in 24 hours and the
edema is not serious. Usually, the patients have hematuria, high blood pressure
and renal insufficiency. Moreover, more than 50% of the patients have Nephrotic
Syndrome. However, a minority of the patients with FSGS have no obvious
symptoms. For this part of patients, they only can find a small amount of
protein in urine in urinary routine test and usually the proteinuria can last a
long time without causing symptoms. Generally speaking, the patients with only
asymptomatic proteinuria have a good prognosis. Most of the patients with FSGS
(about 40~60%) develop slowly into End Stage Renal Failure. For some patients,
their disease progresses very rapidly and may develop into End Stage Renal
Failure in early time.
FSGS is an autoimmune disease and the patients have immune deficiency.
Therefore, when the external virus, bacteria and other harmful factors invade
into body, they will combine with the antibody to form immune complex and
deposit in the mesangial area thus damaging the normal glomerular function.
Without timely effective treatments, most of the patients with FSGS will end
with End Stage Renal Failure. Therefore, if the patients have the above
symptoms, they should receive treatment at once.