Association between the proportion of globally sclerotic glomeruli and various morphologic variables and clinical data of IgA nephropathy patients

INTRODUCTION Immunoglobulin A nephropathy is the most common form of glomerular nephropathy among children and young adults. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the possible correlation between the extent of sclerotic glomeruli and various morphologic variables and clinical data of IgA nephropathy (IgAN) patients, we conducted an observational study, on 136 IgAN patients' biopsies. PATIENTS AND METHODS Of the 136 patients, 94 (69.1%) were male. The mean age of the patients was 37.6 ± 13.4 years. The mean of serum creatinine was 1.94±3.7 mg/dl (median=1.2mg/dl), also mean of proteinuria was 1726±1247 mg/day (median=1500 mg/day). In this study of 14.9±3.7 glomeruli in biopsies, 2.5±3.2 (median=2) were globally sclerotic. RESULTS In this study we found, significant positive correlation between proportion of globally sclerotic glomeruli and serum creatinine, amount of proteinuria, and also quantity of tubulointerstitial fibrosis. Also, in this study, the association of proportion of globally sclerotic glomeruli with M, E, S and T variables of Oxford classification was significantly positive. CONCLUSION We propose firstly that, sclerotic glomeruli reported routinely in the pathology reports of IgA nephropathy patients and secondly we suggest further investigations to possible inclusion of other morphologic variables like proportion of sclerotic glomeruli to Oxford classification of IgAN to widen the scope of this classification.