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Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staffTreatment of glomerulonephritis and your outcome depend on:
- Whether you have an acute or chronic form of the disease
- The underlying cause
- The type and severity of your signs and symptoms
Some cases of acute glomerulonephritis, especially those that follow a strep infection, tend to improve on their own and often require no specific treatment.
In general, the goal of treatment is to protect your kidneys from further damage.
Treatment for high blood pressure
Keeping your blood pressure under control is key to protecting your kidneys. To control your high blood pressure and slow the decline in kidney function, your doctor may prescribe one of several medications, including:
- Diuretics
- Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors
- Angiotensin II receptor agonists
Treatment for an underlying cause
If there's an underlying cause for your kidney inflammation, your doctor may prescribe other drugs to treat the underlying problem, in addition to treatment to control any hypertension:
- Strep or other bacterial infection. Your doctor likely will prescribe an appropriate antibiotic.
- Lupus or vasculitis. Doctors often prescribe corticosteroids and immune-suppressing drugs to control inflammation.
- IgA nephropathy. Both fish oil supplements and certain immune-suppressing drugs have been successful in some people with IgA nephropathy. Further research is being done.
- Goodpasture's syndrome. Plasmapheresis is sometimes used to treat people with Goodpasture's syndrome. Plasmapheresis is a mechanical process that removes antibodies from your blood by taking some of your plasma out of your blood and replacing it with other fluid or donated plasma.
Therapies for associated kidney failure
For acute glomerulonephritis and acute kidney failure, dialysis can help remove excess fluid and control high blood pressure. The only long-term therapies for end-stage kidney failure are kidney dialysis and kidney transplantation. When a transplant isn't possible, often because of poor general health, dialysis becomes the only option.
- Your kidneys and how they work. National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse. http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/yourkidneys/index.htm#rate. Accessed Feb. 3, 2011.
- Glomerulonephritis. National Kidney Foundation. http://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/glomerul.cfm. Accessed Feb. 3, 2011.
- Glomerular diseases. National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse. http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/glomerular/. Accessed Feb. 3, 2011.
- Glomerular diseases. In: Kumar V, et al. Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier, 2010. http://www.mdconsult.com/books/page.do?eid=4-u1.0-B978-1-4377-0792-2..50025-0--cesec6&isbn=978-1-4377-0792-2&type=bookPage§ionEid=4-u1.0-B978-1-4377-0792-2..50025-0--cesec6&uniqId=234806001-3. Accessed Feb. 3, 2011.
- Rose BD, et al. Differential diagnosis of glomerular disease. http://www.uptodate.com/index. Accessed Feb. 3, 2011.
- Lau KK, et al. Glomerulonephritis. Adolescent Medicine Clinics. 2005;16:67.
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