Symptoms and Diagnosis of Childhood Nephrotic Syndrome

Childhood Nephritic Syndrome is very common among the children between the 1.5 to 5 years old and more boys are affected by the disease than girls. In normal cases, kidneys filtrate out excess fluid and metabolic wastes from body and keep the protein that body need in blood. However, for the children with Nephritic Syndrome, as their kidney filtration function is damaged, the protein will leak into urine. As a result, the children will have the following symptoms.

1. A large amount of protein loss in urine.

2. Low levels of protein in blood

3. Edema for the retention of water and sodium

4. Body weight gain resulting from edema

5. Less urination

If the children have the above symptoms, their parents should pay more attention to their children and go to see a nephrologist at once and clear out whether those symptoms are caused by Nephrotic Syndrome.

1. Urine test: The doctor may ask for a urine sample to check for protein or a 24-hour collection of urine for a more precise measurement of the protein and other substance in the urine.

2. Blood test: In normal cases, kidneys can remove the metabolic wastes including creatinine and urea nitrogen from the blood so as to keep the standard levels in body. If the levels of those substances are higher than the normal level, it may prove that the children have kidney damage.

3. Renal biopsy: Sometimes the children are asked to take renal biopsy. The doctor needs to get a small piece of kidney tissue and see it under a microscope to see if the specific cause of kidney damage.

If your children are diagnosed with Nephrotic Syndrome, they should receive treatments at once so as to decrease the further kidney damage.

In the conventional therapies, the doctors mainly prescribe hormones such as metacortandracin, cyclophosphamide and so on to decrease the protein loss and other symptoms. However, although those medicines can control the symptoms for a short time, the disease may occur frequently. What’s worse, hormone has many side effects on the children and influence their healthy growth.


Therefore, the parents should be cautious when choosing therapies for their children. If your child is a patients with Nephrotic Syndrome and want to try a better therapy except hormone, please consult us on line or email to kidney-treatment@hotmail.com.