CHRONIC TONSILLITIS AND IGA NEPHROPATHY - CLINICAL-STUDY OF PATIENTS WITH AND WITHOUT TONSILLECTOMY

To determine whether tonsillectomy is a significantly effective treatm ent in the clinical course of IgA nephropathy, we did a comparative st udy on 50 patients with IgA nephropathy and chronic tonsillitis. We di vided the patients into two groups: 35 patients with and 15 without to nsillectomy (control group). With or without tonsillectomy, renal func tion became progressively worse during the follow-up period in most pa tients with a serum creatinine level of > 1.4 mg/dl at the time of ren al biopsy. In patients with a serum creatinine level of less-than-or-e qual-to 1.4 mg/dl, renal function remained normal in all subjects with tonsillectomy, but worsened in 3 patients out of 13 without tonsillec tomy. Improvement in proteinuria/hematuria was found more frequently i n the tonsillectomized group than in the controls. Furthermore, the se rum IgA level was significantly reduced after tonsillectomy, especiall y in patients showing improvement. From these results we conclude that tonsillectomy was effective for patients with IgA nephropathy complic ated by tonsillitis when the operation was performed before deteriorat ion of renal function.