Goodpasture's Syndrome - Prognosis

Prognosis

In the 1970s, Goodpasture’s syndrome was most often fatal, but due to advances in diagnosis and treatment, deaths are less common now. Death from lung hemorrhage may occur before the diagnosis has been made, or in the initial stages of treatment before it has been properly controlled. With treatment, however, the patient can usually recover completely from lung damage. Kidneys, on the other hand, are less able to repair themselves and patients with kidney damage must often resort to a life on dialysis or kidney transplantation. Even with the best management there is still significant mortality from renal failure, particularly if the patient is otherwise in poor health. In addition, the immunosuppressive treatment many patients are treated with increases their risk of infection with a number of serious or fatal secondary diseases.