The ideal treatment for<unk>  would remove<unk>  from the glomerulus and prevent further<unk>  deposition. This goal still remains a remote prospect. There are a few additional caveats that have to be considered while treating<unk> .<unk>  has a very variable course, ranging from a benign recurrent hematuria up to a rapid progression to chronic kidney failure and failure of other major organs. Hence the decision on which patients to treat should be based on the prognostic factors and the risk of progression. Also,<unk>  recurs in transplants despite the use of ciclosporin, azathioprine or mycophenolate mofetil, cyclophosphamide, Isotretinoin and steroids in these patients. There are persisting uncertainties, due to the limited number of patients included in the few controlled, randomized, studies performed to date. These studies hardly produce statistically significant evidence regarding the heterogeneity of<unk>  patients, the diversity of study treatment protocols, and the length of follow-up. In cases where tonsillitis is the precipitating factor for episodic hematuria, a tonsillectomy has been claimed to reduce the frequency of those episodes. However, it does not reduce the incidence of progressive kidney failure. Dietary gluten restriction, used to reduce mucosal antigen challenge, also has not been shown to preserve kidney function. Phenytoin has also been tried without any benefit. A subset of<unk>  patients, who have minimal change disease on light microscopy and clinically have nephrotic syndrome, show an exquisite response to steroids, behaving more or less like minimal change disease. In other patients, the evidence for steroids is not compelling. Short courses of high dose steroids have been proven to lack benefit. However, in patients with aggressive Berger's disease 6 months regimen of steroids in addition to other medications may lessen proteinuria and preserve renal function. The study had 10 years of patient follow-up data, and did show a benefit for steroid therapy; there was a lower chance of reaching end-stage renal disease (renal function so poor that dialysis was required) in the steroid group. Importantly, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors were used in both groups equally. Cyclophosphamide (traded as endoxan & cytoxan) and Isotretinoin have commonly been used, often with anti-platelet/anticoagulants in patients with Aggressive Berger's disease, however, the side effect profile of these drugs, including long term risk of malignancy and sterility, made them an unfavorable choice for use in young adults. However, one recent study, in a carefully selected high risk population of patients with declining GFR, showed that a combination of steroids and cyclophosphamide for the initial 3 months followed by azathioprine for a minimum of 2 years resulted in a significant preservation of renal function. Other agents such as mycophenolate mofetil, ciclosporin and mizoribine have also been tried with varying results. A study from Mayo Clinic did show that long term treatment with omega-3 fatty acids results in slight reduction of progression to kidney failure, without, however, reducing proteinuria in a subset of patients with high risk of worsening kidney function. However, these results have not been reproduced by other study groups and in two subsequent meta-analyses. However, fish oil therapy does not have the drawbacks of immunosuppressive therapy. Also, apart from its unpleasant taste and abdominal discomfort, it is relatively safe to consume. The events that tend to progressive kidney failure are not unique to<unk>  and non-specific measures to reduce the same would be equally useful. These include a low-protein diet and optimal control of blood pressure. The choice of the antihypertensive agent is open as long as the blood pressure is controlled to desired level. However, Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and Angiotensin II receptor antagonists are favoured due to their anti-proteinuric effect. In December 2021, budesonide (Tarpeyo) was approved for medical use in the US to reduce proteinuria in adults with primary<unk>  at risk of rapid disease progression.
IgA nephropathy
Analgesic nephropathy
Mesoamerican nephropathy
Malarial nephropathy
Shunt nephritis
Sickle cell nephropathy
Reflux nephropathy
Membranous glomerulonephritis