Complications and Symptoms of IgA Nephropathy

The common clinical manifestations of IgA nephropathy are microscopic hematuria, gross hematuria, proteinuria, etc. Due to lack of relevant knowledge, many patients do not take timely treatments and miss the best treatment period.

The typical symptoms of IgA nephropathy

1. Gross hematuria.

Gross hematuria means that patients can see blood in urine with naked eyes. It is the most common symptoms for taking renal biopsy to confirm the diagnosis. Usually it occurs after upper respiratory tract infections (tonsillitis), acute gastroenteritis, osteomyelitis, peritonitis, herpes zoster or other infections. Sometimes it can occur after vaccination or strenuous exercises.

Gross hematuria usually lasts for hours to days, but usually less than 3 days. Sometimes there will be slight systemic discomforts such as muscle pain, urinary pain, back pain, low fever. After the onset of gross hematuria, blood in urine can disappear or turn into persistent microscopic hematuria. Gross hematuria has the feature of repeated occurrence.

2. Microscopic hematuria.

Microscopic hematuria means that the blood in urine can only be detected with microscope. Microscopic hematuria with or without asymptomatic proteinuria is the main symptom of IgA nephropathy especially among children and young adults. Since the blood can not be see by naked eyes, it is dormant and usually found in regular physical examinations.

3. Slight proteinuria

Most IgA nephropathy patients have slight proteinuria and 24-hour urinary protein quantitative is less than 1g. A few patients (about 10%-24%) will have massive proteinuria or even nephrotic syndrome. Light microscope shows mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis. With the worsening of renal damages, there will be renal insufficiency, hypertension, anemia and many other symptoms.

Besides the above mentioned common symptoms, there can also be acute nephritis syndrome, rapidly progressive nephritis syndrome (crescents nephritis), acute renal failure as well as other symptoms like sudden back pain, severe abdominal pain, etc. IgA nephropathy can have a variety of symptoms.

Complications of IgA nephropathy

1. Renal insufficiency.

Renal insufficiency is one complication of IgA. Patients will have serious hypertension which will cause arteriosclerosis and affect kidney function if not treated timely and in the end there will be renal insufficiency.

2. End stage renal failure.

The prognosis of IgA nephropathy has great individual differences. Some patients can receive complete remission while some will develop into chronic kidney disease and in the end develop into end stage renal failure without proper and timely treatments and nursing cares.