Clinical and laboratory findings versus results of renal biopsy: Evaluation the diagnostic value in patients with lupus nephritis

Kidney involvement is a major cause of death and disability in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Early andaccurate determination of the type of involvement is essential in choosing the appropriate treatment for these patients. Thecurrent study aimed to determine whether laboratory findings are consistent with kidney biopsy for biopsy classification.This descriptive analytic cross-sectional study was performed on ۱۷ patients with SLE admitted to rheumatology and nephrologydepartments. All patients underwent renal biopsy and received appropriate treatment according to the reported pathology. Dataanalysis was performed using SPSS software version ۲۵. The participants comprised ۱۴ females and ۳ males with a mean ageof ۳۲.۲۳±۱۱.۱۲ years. The findings of this study showed that mean serum C۳ and ۲۴-hour urine protein concentrations weresignificantly different between the four studied groups according to the type of kidney pathology (p =۰.۰۴۲, p =۰.۰۴۱;respectively). No significant relationship was found between pathological findings and clinical signs, demographic information,and other laboratory findings (p >۰.۰۵). Based on the findings of the present study, it can be concluded that renal biopsy is themost accurate method available for the diagnosis and classification of lupus nephritis. Nonetheless, renal biopsy has limitationsincluding side effects, the need for an experienced pathologist, and suboptimality in some cases; renal biopsy was suboptimalin three cases of the current study. Therefore, noninvasive faster methods with high efficacy should be sought.

Keywords:

clinical symptoms , Kidney pathology , Laboratory findings , lupus nephritis