THE GERMAN GLOMERULONEPHRITIS THERAPY STUDY - 10 YEARS OF CONTROLLED RANDOMIZED TRIALS FOR THE TREATMENT OF IDIOPATHIC GLOMERULONEPHRITIS

The German Collaborative Glomerulonephritis Therapy Study, which celeb rated its 10th anniversary in 1996, has collected data on more than 1, 000 patients with biopsy-proven glomerulonephritis. 929 patients could be evaluated and 500 were treated according to at least one of variou s protocols developed fur a randomized controlled trial. Current resul ts show that prednisolone is effective in minimal-change nephropathy, and in combination with other immunosuppressants ir can reduce protein uria in individual cases of focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis, me mbranous glomerulonephritis and nephrotic IgA nephropathy. The majorit y of tested treatment protocols did not prove to be superior to sympto matic therapy for long-term outcome.