Article Text
Research Article
Necropsy study on glomerulonephritis in the elderly.
Abstract
The necropsy reports and clinical observations of 44 cases of glomerulonephritis occurring in patients over 55 years old were reviewed. Two-thirds of the patients died from a rapidly progressive renal disease with focal necrotizing and fibrosing glomerular lesions; half of these exhibited a granulomatous splenic trabeculitis; an associated vasculitis was found in only a minority of these cases. Another important group consisted of cases of acute diffuse glomerulonephritis which, as a rule, occurred in association with a major infection. There were only four cases of chronic sclerosing glomerulonephritis.