Post Date December, 03 2023
With the industrialization of society and the aggravation of environmental pollution, the incidence rate of lupus nephritis in China has a rising trend.
In addition to the kidneys, lupus can also cause damage to various systems throughout the body, including the skin and mucous membranes, bones and muscles, respiratory system, nervous system, blood system, digestive system, and heart. During the treatment of lupus kidneys, these may require treatment.
Among them, renal damage is the most serious, and lupus kidney is also the main cause of death in patients with lupus erythematosus. The mortality rate in children with lupus nephritis is is as high as 18.9% - 25.4%
Inspection Required
1. Anti nuclear antibody
Anti nuclear antibody (ANA) is a characteristic antibody of lupus, with a positive rate of up to 98%
In addition, anti dsDNA antibodies, high titers of anti dsDNA antibodies, and anti Sm antibodies are also very important for the diagnosis of lupus.
2. C3/C4 test, and other autoantibodies.
Treatment Plan and Principles
Lupus erythematosus causes immune damage to the kidneys, which is mainly related to the formation of immune complexes, immune cells, cytokines, and other immune abnormalities. Therefore, immunotherapy with hormones and immunosuppressants is essential.
Generally speaking, mild mesangial lupus and mesangial proliferative lupus are treated with medium and small doses of hormones. When hormone therapy alone is not effective, immunosuppressants can be used.
Severe focal lupus, diffuse lupus, and membranous lupus require "induction therapy" with large doses of immunosuppressants, followed by small doses of maintenance after the induction phase.
Reduce side effects
Currently, the main effective treatment method is immunosuppressant combined with plasma exchange, but it is easy to cause new damage to patients.
In particular, hormone induced necrosis of the femoral head can cause significant harm to patients with lupus nephritis.
Due to the prevalence of inflammation, immunosuppressants are necessary, but traditional Chinese medicine can alleviate its side effects.
Because inflammation is an immune response caused by the deposition of immune complexes, cleaning up immune complexes is the key. Plasma exchange has a good cleaning effect on immune complexes in the blood, but its effect on immune complexes in the kidney is not significant.
In addition to helping clean up immune complexes, traditional Chinese medicine can also improve the body's immunity and reduce the damage of immunosuppressants to the body.
