| 초록 |
Lupus nephritis is a major determinant of morbidity and mortality in children with systemic lupus erythematosus. Although the use of aggressive immunosuppressive drugs has improved the survival rates of patients and kidney over the past decades to 70-85%, a optimal treatment protocol of lupus nephritis remains undetermined yet. I review the ISN/RPS 2003 classification of lupus nephritis revised from the 1982 WHO classification, which introduced distinctions of subcategories within class IV and class V, and then, introduce the treatment protocols of lupus nephritis according to pathologic classifications. The purposes of treatment of lupus nephritis are achievement of remission and prevention of relapse with less toxic drugs. Therefore, this paper discusses standard and newer treatment options for patients with proliferative lupus nephritis (class III, IV)and membranous lupus nephritis (class V), which are troublesome in the managements. |
