Prognosis For FSGS After Renal Failure

FSGS (focal segmental glomerulosclerosis) is a common cause of nephrotic syndrome in children and adolescents and it is one major kidney disease that causes renal failure in adult patients. Glomerulosclerosis means renal glomeruli are scarred. Focal means that not all glomeruli are damaged and segmental means only part of each glomerulus is scarred.

FSGS is also called focal glomerular sclerosis and it is one common cause of massive proteinuria. If no treatment is received, kidney failure will develop and patients have to have dialysis or kidney transplant when more than 85-90% of their kidney functions are damaged.

Even with treatment, some patients can still develop into end stage kidney disease if they have poor response to hormones and immunosuppressant. It is not easy to cure FSGS and it is very easy to relapse and illness conditions will become even worse. Usually patients will develop into renal failure after 5-10 years. When FSGS progresses into renal failure, usually dialysis will be first offered to sustain patients’ life until they have the chance to have kidney transplant.

However since FSGS usually occurs to children and adolescents, they have to undergo more than one kidney transplant to ensure a relatively normal life span because the survival rate of transplanted kidneys after 5 years is very low.

To prolong life span after kidney transplant for FSGS patients, anti-rejections drugs have to be taken which will further lower the patients’ immunity and make them more susceptible to various infections and much shorten the life span of transplanted kidney.

From the long run, neither dialysis nor kidney transplant is good treatment for FSGS. To improve the prognosis and prolong life expectancy for the patients as much as possible, Chinese Medicines and Immunotherapy can help a lot by repairing renal damages and recovering kidney functions.

Chinese medicines are often be used in immunotherapy along with some western medicines which can help intensify the curative effects and at the same time can shorten the course of taking hormones so as to much reduce the side effects and promote recovery. What is more important, it deals with the root problem in FSGS, that is renal glomerular scarring so that the disease is not easy to relapse and illness conditions will become better and better.