Glomerulonephritis differential diagnosis

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Overview

Glomerulonephritis may be proliferative or non-proliferative and may be associated with nephrotic or nephritic features. The various types of glomerulonephritides should be differentiated from each other based on associations, presence of pitting edema, hemeturia, hypertrnsion, hemoptysis, oliguria, peri-orbital edema, hyperlipidemia, type of antibodies, light and electron microscopic features.

Differential Diagnosis

The following table differentiates between various types of glomerulonephritides:

Glomerulonephritis	Sub-entity	Causes and associations	History and Symtoms							Laboratory Findings
										Hyperlipidemia and hypercholesterolemia	Nephrotic features	Nephritic features	ANCA	Anti-glomerular basement membrane antibody (Anti-GBM antibody)	Immune complex formation	Light microscope	Electron microscope	Immunoflourescence pattern
			History	Pitting edema	Hemeturia (Gross or microscopic)	Hypertension	Hemoptysis	Oliguria	Peri-orbital edema
Non-proliferative	Minimal change disease	Idiopathic Protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor type O (glomerular epithelial protein 1- GLEPP1)	Young children Recent infection and immunization Atopy Hodgkin lymphoma Thrombosis (due to urinary loss of antithrombin-III)	+	-	-	-	+/-	-	+	+	-	-	-	-	Normal	Fusion of podocytes	-
	Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis	Idiopathic HIV Heroine use Sickle cell disease Interferon Severe obesity Mixed cryoglobunemia (Hepatitis C)	Adults	+	-	-	-	+/-	-	+	+	-	-	-	-	Focal (some glomeruli) and segmental (only part of glomerulus)	Effacement of podocytes	-
	Membranous glomerulonephritis	Idiopathic Hepatitis B and C Solid tumors Systemic lupus erythmatosus Drugs (NSAIDS, penclliamine, gold, captopril)		+	-	-	-	+/-	-	+	+	-	-	-	+	Thick glomerular basement membrance	Sub-epithelial immune complex depositis with 'spike and dome' appearance	-
Proliferative	IgA nephropathy	Idiopathic Viral infections	Young children History of mucosal infections (e.g. gastroenteritis) and upper respiratory tract infection 2-3 days after infection (synpharyngitic)	+/-	+	+	-	+	+/-	-	-	+	-	-	+	Crescent formation	Mesangial proliferation	-
	Rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis	Goodpasture syndrome	Young adults	+/-	+	+	+	+	+	-	-	+	-	+	+	Hypercellular and inflamed glomeruli (Crescent formation)	Diffuse thickening of the glomerular basement membrane with absence of subepithelial and subendothelial deposits	+ (Linear)
		Post infectious glomerulonephritis	Streptococcal skin infections Streptococcal pharyngitis 2-3 weeks after infection	+/-	+	+	+	+	+	-	-	+	-	-	+	Hypercellular and inflamed glomeruli	Sub-epithelial immune complex deposits	+ (Granular)
		Granulomatosis with polyangitis (Wegner's granulomatosis)	Necrotizing granulomas (Nasopharynx, lungs, kidneys) Conjunctivitis Ulceration of the cornea Episcleritis Peripheral neuropathy	+/-	+	+	+	+	+	-	-	+	+ (C-ANCA)	-	-	Hypercellular and inflamed glomeruli (Crescent formation)	- (pauci-immune)	+/-
		Churg Strauss syndrome	Necrotizing granulomas (Lungs and kidneys) Asthma Peripheral neuropathy	+/-	+	+	+	+	+	-	-	+	+ (C-ANCA)	-	-	Hypercellular and inflamed glomeruli (Crescent formation)	- (pauci-immune)	-
		Microscopic polyngitis	Necrotizing vasculitis (no granuloma)	+/-	+	+	+	+	+	-	-	+	+ (P-ANCA)	-	-	Hypercellular and inflamed glomeruli (Crescent formation)	- (pauci-immune)	-
	Membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis	Idiopathic Hepatitis B and C (Type 1) C3 nepritic factor (Type2)	Hemeturia Oliguria Periorbital edema Hypertension	+/-	+	+	+	+	+	-	+	-	-	-	+	Thick glomerular basement membrane (Tram-track appearance)	Mesangial proliferation and leukocyte infiltration	+ (Granular)