title: Clinicopathological correlations in lupus nephritis; a single center experience.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Renal biopsies play an important role in the diagnosis, management and prognosis of patients with lupus nephritis (LN).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the correlation between the pathological features of LN and the demographic, clinical and laboratory parameters.
  
  
  METHODS
  This retrospective study was conducted from 2008 to 2014 on all consecutive cases of biopsy-proven LN at a nephropathology laboratory in Iran. The demographic, clinical and laboratory data were obtained from patients(') files and the biopsy findings from the original biopsy request forms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 84 patients enrolled, 69 (82.2%) were females and 15 (17.8%) males. The mean age was 32.7±12 years. The mean serum creatinine was 1.5±0.94 mg/dl and the mean 24-h proteinuria, 1.6±1.9 grams. The majority of cases belonged to classes III and IV. The extracapillary proliferation was found in 42.86% of biopsies and endocapillary proliferation in 66.67% of biopsies. Patients of class IV-LN had a higher mean serum value of creatinine in comparison to class III-LN (2.19±1.09 versus 1.2±0.56 mg/dl; p= 0.0001). There was no significant difference of 24-h proteinuria between the two classes (p= 0.882). A significant association of serum creatinine with 24-h proteinuria (p= 0.041) was seen. Serum creatinine had significant positive correlation with activity percent (p< 0.001), and chronicity percent (p= 0.006), and also with proportion of glomeruli with crescents (p < 0.001). While there was a significant relationship of proteinuria with chronicity percent (p= 0.001), this association for activity percent was not significant (p= 0.094). Furthermore, the association of proteinuria with totally sclerotic glomeruli and proportion of crescents was not statistically significant (p= 0.186 and p= 0.0145 respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In conclusion, the results from our study on biopsy-proven cases of LN largely concur with the previously reported studies from Iran and other parts of the world.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Division of Nephropathology, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Hamid
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nasri
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ahmadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Azar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baradaran
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Momeni
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Parto
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nasri
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran.
authors.forename: Saeed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mardani
authors.affiliation: Medical Plants Research Center, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Sharhekord, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahmood
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rafieian-Kopaei
authors.affiliation: Department of Histopathology, Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT), Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mubarak
keywords: Crescents; Lupus nephritis; Proteinuria; Renal biopsy
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