title: Role of immunoflourescence in the diagnosis of glomerulonephritis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To correlate the findings of immunoflorescence (IF) with morphology in renal biopsies of patients with glomerulonephritis (GN) of both primary and secondary nature.
  
  
  METHODS
  The cross-sectional analytical study was conducted at the Shifa International Hospital's Department of Pathology form March 2007 to August 2008, during which a total of 207 renal biopsies were done. Of them, the study included 92 cases which were diagnosed as primary or secondary glomerulonephritis under light microscope. Those cases were selected in which both light microscopy (LM) and immunoflorescence were done.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 92 patients, 79 (85.8%) were adults (> or = 19 years) and 13 (14%) were children (< 19 years). The mean age of adults was 36.44 +/- 11.55 (range 19-69 years) and that of the children was 10.54 +/- 3.85 years (range 4-18 years). immunoflorescence changed the morphologic diagnosis in 20 (21.73%) cases. The pattern of disease was: membranous glomerulonephritis in 24%, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) in 18.4%, mesangiocapillary glomerulonephritis in 2%, and minimal change disease (MCD) in 16% of the cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Light microscopy alone can misdiagnose renal disease. This is especially important in cases of early stage membranous, IgA nephropathy (IgAN), Lupus nephritis and IgM nephropathy (IgMN), as these entities can only be diagnosed by correlating the microscopic, immunoflorescence findings and clinical details.
authors: Department of Pathology, Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad.
authors: Humaira
authors: H
authors: Nasir
authors: Sarah
authors: S
authors: Chaudhry
authors: Wajiha
authors: W
authors: Raza
authors: Ambreen
authors: A
authors: Moatasim
authors: Nadira
authors: N
authors: Mamoon
authors: Noreen
authors: N
authors: Akhtar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001706:Biopsy; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D005921:Glomerulonephritis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008853:Microscopy; D010154:Pakistan