Membranous glomerulonephritis overview

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Overview

Membranous glomerulonephritis (MGN), also known as membranous nephropathy, is a slowly progressive disease of the kidney affecting mostly patients between ages of 30 and 50 years. 85% of MGN cases are classified as primary membranous glomerulonephritis -- that is to say, the cause of the disease is idiopathic (unknown). This can also be referred to as idiopathic membranous nephropathy. The remainder is secondary due to :

• autoimmune conditions (e.g., systemic lupus erythematosus)
• infections (e.g., syphilis, malaria, hepatitis B)
• drugs (e.g., captopril, NSAIDs)
• inorganic salts
• malignant tumors (in particular, carcinoma of the lung and colon, and melanoma)

The word membranous refers to the glomerular basement membrane of the kidney; glomerulonephritis means "a kidney disease affecting the capillaries of the glomeruli"; nephropathy is a generic term that just refers to any disease of the kidney.