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Membranous Glomerulopathy

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Fundamentals of Renal Pathology

Abstract

Membranous glomerulopathy is a major cause of the nephrotic syndrome in adults (1,2). Only in the past decades has it been surpassed by focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis as the main cause of the nephrotic syndrome (3–5). Membranous glomerulopathy develops mostly idiopathically, but can also be seen in relation with and possibly secondary to, among others, hepatitis B, Sjögren’s syndrome, transplantation, lupus erythematosus, diabetes mellitus, sarcoidosis, syphilis, exposure to certain drugs and heavy metals (penicillamine, bucillamine, gold, mercuric chloride), and malignancies (10%), including carcinomas, carcinoids, sarcomas, lymphoma’s, and leukemias (2,6–10). The possibility of a malignancy must be considered especially in older patients with membranous glomerulopathy. In these patients it is also imperative to perform urinary immunoelectrophoresis routinely to rule out myeloma and renal primary amyloidosis (AL) (2). Finally, idiopathic membranous glomerulopathy, of which an autoimmune origin has not been established, must be distinguished from membranous lupus glomerulonephritis (11), as discussed in Chapter 8. Synonyms for membranous glomerulopathy are membranous nephritis, (epi)membranous nephropathy, extramembranous glomerulopathy, and perimembranous nephropathy (7,12).

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Authors
  1. Jan A. Bruijn
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA

    Agnes B. Fogo M.D.

  2. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Arthur H. Cohen M.D.

  3. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    J. Charles Jennette M.D.

  4. Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands

    Jan A. Bruijn M.D., Ph.D.

  5. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Robert B. Colvin M.D.

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Bruijn, J.A. (2006). Membranous Glomerulopathy. In: Fogo, A.B., Cohen, A.H., Jennette, J.C., Bruijn, J.A., Colvin, R.B. (eds) Fundamentals of Renal Pathology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-31127-2_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-31127-2_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-31126-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-31127-2

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