Morphological Patterns of Renal Disease in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)

Aim: To observe the various morphological presentations of SLE on renal biopsy in terms of ISN / RPS classification. Settings and Design: Simple descriptive study, conducted in the Morbid Anatomy & Histopathology Department, University of Health Sciences, Lahore. Methods: We studied 30 biopsy samples of patients diagnosed as Systemic Lupus Erythematosus according to American Rheumatism Association (ARA) criteria. Histolopathological examination of samples was carried out using light microscopy. Samples were classified using the ISN/RPS Classes of lupus nephritis. The data was entered and analysed using SPSS 20.0 (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). Mean±SD was calculated for quantitative variables. Frequencies and percentages were calculated for qualitative variables. Results: Among these 30 patients, 25(83%) were females and 5(17%) were males; minimum age being 5 years and maximum being 62 years (mean+S.D = 22.77+13.76). A total of 13 cases (43%) fell in ISN/RPS Class IV, 6 cases (20%) in ISN/RPS Class V, 5 cases (17%) in ISN/RPS Class III & 3 cases (10%) each in ISN/RPS Classes II & VI. Conclusions: Morphological patterns of renal disease in study population closely matches the patterns observed in neighbouring regions with ISN/RPS Class IV being the commonest finding. Renal biopsy is critical in establishing the ISN/RPS Class and consequently in clinical management of patient with lupus nephritis.