Nephritic syndrome (or acute nephritic syndrome) is a collection of signs (known as a syndrome) associated with disorders affecting the kidneys, more specifically glomerular disorders. It is characterized by having small pores in the podocytes of the glomerulus, large enough to permit proteins (proteinuria) and red blood cells (hematuria) to pass into the urine. By contrast, nephrotic syndrome is characterized by only proteins (proteinuria) moving into the urine. Both nephritic syndrome and nephrotic syndrome result in hypoalbuminemia due to protein albumin moving from the blood to the urine.
Hematuria can be caused by bleeding anywhere in the urinary tract, but if the RBCs are trapped in urinary casts, it is more likely that the bleeding originated in the nephron, and nephritic syndrome becomes more probable.
It is usually distinguished from nephrotic syndrome, but sometimes the two are described as associated in a minority of cases (occasionally — and confusingly— referred to as "nephritic/nephrotic," although this is considered a progression of a nephritic syndrome and categorically not a nephrotic syndrome). Some conditions can cause either syndrome, and both syndromes can have a similar appearance upon biopsy. Neither term represents a definitive diagnosis, but both terms can be useful in the early stages of a differential diagnosis.
Read more about Nephritic Syndrome: Signs and Symptoms, Diagnosis, Pathophysiology, Differential Diagnosis, Treatment, Prognosis
Famous quotes containing the word syndrome:
“Women are taught that their main goal in life is to serve others—first men, and later, children. This prescription leads to enormous problems, for it is supposed to be carried out as if women did not have needs of their own, as if one could serve others without simultaneously attending to one’s own interests and desires. Carried to its “perfection,” it produces the martyr syndrome or the smothering wife and mother.”
—Jean Baker Miller (20th century)