RAPIDLY PROGRESSIVE GLOMERULONEPHRITIS OF INFECTIOUS ORIGIN

Among 64 patients who presented with glomerulonephritis of infectious origin, 17 cases (26 %) of crescentic glomerulonephritis were studied retrospectively. Five patients had bacterial endocarditis and the iden tified primary infections were cutaneous or oropharyngeal. At the time of diagnosis, 15 patients had acute nephritic syndrome, 3 were anuric and only 2 had normal renal function. Despite symptomatic treatment, the prognosis in these patients was poor : 5 died of infectious diseas e, 3 are definitively on dialysis and 7 suffer from chronic renal fail ure. Initiation of immunosuppressive regimens prior to the development or irreversible renal lesions could possibly improve renal prognosis, but entail the risk of life threatening infections in such patients.