LIPID NEPHROSIS

Abstract
The term lipid nephrosis was first used by Müller1to distinguish the purely degenerative type of renal lesion from the inflammatory type. After many evolutions it has come to designate a malady characterized by an insidious onset, generalized recurrent edema, normal blood pressure, massive albuminuria, a normal blood urea content, a high serum lipid level and a low value for total serum protein and for albumin (Volhard and Fahr2and others). Epstein3suggested that the cause of lipid nephrosis is extrarenal and that the symptoms are caused by a disturbance of protein metabolism. Schick4and Addis5suggested that the source of this protein disturbance may be in the liver. If one accepts lipid nephrosis as a distinct clinical entity, it is rather infrequent. In over twenty years in the pediatric service at the Mount Sinai Hospital we have made such a diagnosis for only 40