What are Primary Membranous Nephropathy and Its Basic Treatment

Membranous Nephropathy, also named as Membranous Glomerulonephritis. It is characterized with the thickening of part of glomerular basement membrane, which includes Primary Membranous Nephropathy and Secondary Membranous Nephropathy.

Primary Membranous Nephropathy is found at any ages, but more common among adults. In 15%~20% of patients, asymptomatic proteinuria is their primary symptom and about 80% of them present as Nephrotic Syndrome and about 60% of them have mild microscopic hematuria, but nearly all patients do not have gross hematuria. Onset of Primary Membranous Nephropathy, their blood pressure is normal, but the high blood pressure will increase gradually with the disease progression. Edema is the main symptoms of Primary Membranous Nephropathy. In some cases, the patients only have mild edema in their lower limbs, but some patients have systemic edema and even hydrothorax and seeper in abdominal cavity. In the early stage, the patients’ renal function is normal. However, in some cases, the patients are accompanied with crecentic glomerulonephritis, their renal function may aggravate rapidly.

Primary Membranous Nephropathy is typically characterized with the formation of venous thrombosis, which can be found at any part of body, but renal venous thrombosis is more common. When the patients get acute renal venous thrombosis, the patients often have percussion pain, suddenly increased proteinuria, gross hematuria, leukocyturia and high blood pressure. If the patients have the formation of venous thrombosis in bilateral kidneys, it can cause declined urination and Acute Renal Failure. Moreover, the formation of venous thrombosis also can aggravate Nephrotic Syndrome and also have functional damage in renal tubular such as renal glycosuria, acidaminuria, renal tubular acidosis and so on.

If the patients with Primary Membranous Nephropathy have much protein loss in their urine, the patients should have more rest and avoid intense exercise. Moreover, they should avoid the high salt intake. If they have decreased urination, they should also limit their water intake. In addition, they should limit their protein intake within 1~1.5 grams/ kg per body weight and also need to increase the high quality protein intake. In addition, the patients should guarantee enough calorie intakes, which can decline the decomposing of protein. If the patients have obvious edema, but limiting salt intake is useless, they should use diuretic to alleviate the edema.


If the patients with Primary Membranous Nephropathy can receive early treatment in time, they will be able to prevent their renal function declining.