Diagnosis and management of glomerular diseases

Glomerular diseases have many different clinical manifestations, including asymptomatic proteinuria, nephrotic syndrome, asymptomatic hematuria, acute nephritis, rapidly progressive nephritis, chronic nephritis, and end-stage renal disease. Many different glomerular diseases can cause each clinical manifestation, and the same disease may have different manifestations at different times. These protean characteristics, make diagnosis difficult; however, timely and accurate diagnosis is essential for proper patient management. Precise diagnosis of glomerular diseases requires knowledgeable integration of clinical signs and symptoms, laboratory data, and pathologic findings.