Is nephrotic syndrome serious? What are the symptoms?

Kidney disease is a disease with a high incidence rate in modern life. Because the pace of life of modern people is very fast, almost everyone is busy with life and forgets to take care of their bodies. Among them, the kidneys are one of the organs most susceptible to stress and pathology. Nephrotic syndrome is a more serious type of nephrotic syndrome. Let’s take a look at how serious nephrotic syndrome is. What are the symptoms?

1. Heavy proteinuria

Heavy proteinuria is the main clinical manifestation of NS patients and the most basic pathophysiological mechanism of nephrotic syndrome. Under normal physiological conditions, the glomerular filtration membrane has molecular barriers and charge barriers, which cause the protein content in the primary urine to increase. When it far exceeds the amount of reabsorption by the proximal tubule, a large amount of proteinuria is formed. On this basis, any factors that increase intraglomerular pressure and lead to hyperperfusion and hyperfiltration (such as high blood pressure, high-protein diet or large-scale infusion of plasma protein) can aggravate the excretion of urinary protein.

2. Hypoproteinemia

Plasma albumin dropped to <30 g/L. In NS, a large amount of albumin is lost in the urine, which promotes the compensatory synthesis of albumin in the liver and the increase of renal tubular decomposition. In addition, NS patients suffer from gastrointestinal mucosal edema, which leads to decreased diet, insufficient protein intake, malabsorption or loss, which also aggravates hypoalbuminemia. Patients are prone to complications such as infection, hypercoagulability, trace element deficiency, endocrine disorders and immune dysfunction.

3. Edema

In NS, hypoalbuminemia and decreased plasma colloid osmotic pressure cause water to enter the tissue space from the vascular cavity, which is the basic cause of NS edema. Recent studies have shown that about 50% of patients have normal or increased blood volume and normal or decreased plasma renin levels, suggesting that certain factors originating from sodium and water retention in the kidney play a certain role in the pathogenesis of NS edema.

4. Hyperlipidemia

The cause of NS combined with hyperlipidemia has not yet been fully elucidated. Hypercholesterolemia and/or hypertriglyceridemia, increased serum LDL, VLDL and lipoprotein (α) concentrations, often coexist with hypoproteinemia. Hypercholesterolemia is primarily due to increased lipoprotein synthesis in the liver, but decreased breakdown in the peripheral circulation also plays a part. Hypertriglyceridemia is mainly caused by metabolic disorders, with increased hepatic synthesis as a secondary factor.