Idiopathic membranous nephropathy in children: A case report.

Background: Minimal change disease is a common cause of nephrotic syndrome (NS) in children and has a good prognosis. Idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN), a rare cause of NS in children, may progress to chronic kidney disease. However, there is little data on how to evaluate and treat IMN in children.
Case Summary: In this article, we report the case of a 7-year-old boy with steroid-resistant NS. After cyclophosphamide pulse therapy combined with oral prednisone, the urinary protein results remained positive. Renal biopsy confirmed the pathological diagnosis of stage II MN, with positivity for phospholipase A ₂ receptor. Other immunological and infectious diseases relevant to secondary MN were ruled out by laboratory tests. Subsequently, tacrolimus plus prednisone was administered, and the therapeutic effect was satisfactory.
Conclusion: IMN is rare in children. The main clinical manifestation is NS. The diagnosis depends on renal biopsy. There is little evidence-based data on the treatment of IMN in children. Therefore, large-sample randomized controlled trials need to be performed. Individualized treatment should be used to improve the prognosis of the disease.
Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
(©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.)